April 19, 2007
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm
One of the reasons that Symbiopsychotaxiplasm was not successful in becoming a mainstream film could be the format in which the film was presented. For the late 60's this film was revolutionary in the way that the view was able to watch it. One of the most revolutionary things in the film would be the fact that at times there were three different screens to focus on at the same time. This would most likely have been hard for moviegoers at the time to grasp and pay attention to. Additionally the incorporation of the filmmakers into the film was something that most likely would have been a foreign idea for moviegoers. Comparing this film to films and TV shows in recent years it can be seen as a milestone. In today’s television it is not a rare occurrence that there will be multiple screens on at the same time (ex. 24). This can also be seen in films as well as many music videos of today. I have a strange feeling that if this film was released today it would most likely be looked at as more mainstream rather than outside of the box as it was in the 60's.
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I have to agree with the point you raise about "Symbiopsychtaxiplasm" being way ahead of its time. The fact that it had never been theatrically released, coupled with its widespread acceptance in the film festival circuit (namely by Steve Buschemi and Steven Soderbergh), proves that it musters more of an appreciation from the film literate than those looking to sit back in the theater and be entertained. With the hundreds of "mockumentaries" and genre-splitting films that we've seen in our lifetime, it's hard to imagine this film as being "indigestible." But reflexivity of the film, the unconventional use of technology (the screen splitting, as you mentioned), as well as the content of the film (a lot of the taboo topics went either unmentioned, or were tackled less aggressively), were all enough to have rendered it unfathomable by the 1960s audiences. It's a shame, really. If it had been embraced by a larger audience at the time of its completion, it may have added a different element to the "American New Wave" that was Hollywood in the 1970s.
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