Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, Take 1 and Take 2 1/2

In the 1968 experimental feature Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, Take 1, director William Greaves leads increasingly irritated actors and crew members through Central Park as they film one inane scene of dialogue over and over again. With scant directorial input from Greaves and three cameras rolling constantly (one filmed the actors, the second camera shot the first camera, and the third captured everything), the crew revolts against the rudderless project. Take 1 is an intentionally frustrating but wonderfully alive slice of ’60s counterculture, with a meta-commentary on filmmaking that created a whole new cinema dialectic—if you’re into that sort of thing. The 2003 sequel Take 2 1/2 follows a similar blueprint, but comes off safe and contrived, amounting to a 98-minute admission that the thrill is gone.