THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO CINEMA takes the viewer on an exhilarating ride through some of the greatest movies ever made. Serving as presenter and guide is the charismatic Slavoj Zizek, acclaimed philosopher and psychoanalyst. With his engaging and passionate approach to thinking, Zizek delves into the hidden language of cinema, uncovering what movies can tell us about ourselves. Whether he is untangling the famously baffling films of David Lynch, or overturning everything you thought you knew about
Hitchcock, Zizek illuminates the screen with his passion, intellect, and unfailing sense of humour. THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO CINEMA cuts its cloth from the very world of the movies it discusses; by shooting at original locations and from replica sets it creates the uncanny illusion that Zizek is speaking from 'within' the films themselves. Together the three parts construct a compelling dialectic of ideas. Described by The Times in London as 'the woman helming this Freudian inquest,' director Sophie Fiennes' collaboration with Slavoj Zizek illustrates the immediacy with which film and television can communicate complex ideas. Says Zizek: 'My big obsession is to make things clear. I can really explain a line of thought if I can somehow illustrate it in a scene from a film. THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO CINEMA is really about what psychoanalysis can tell us about cinema.'
It is a fun romp through the annals of cinema by pop Slovenian philosopher and prolific writer Slavoj Zizek, who finds deep psychological meaning in a slew of movies.
The teachers we remember most fondly are often the ones who entertained as they enlightened, through hyperbole seasoned with grains of salt. Mr. Zizek belongs in that company.
It sounds completely mad, but it hangs together because of the brilliant, hilarious decision to insert the garrulous philosopher into key scenes of the films he discusses.
Maybe the art house isn't a place for perverts anymore. Indeed, the privacy of one's own laptop seems a somewhat safer setting for Zizek's kinky act of criticism.
Impresses with four stars for part one, but then fizzles out with the gabby shrink's repetitive, often meaningless psychobabble up to the finish line. Astute analysis or personal obsession? Paging the shrink's shrink.
Looking like no one so much as Ricky Tomlinson's crazed Slovenian twin brother, that unruly thinker and critic Slavoj Zizek gives us a highly entertaining and often brilliant tour of modern cinema.
Above all The Pervert's Guide to Cinema ponders a crucial question for all film-goers: why do we continue to be emotionally affected by movies, even when we know they're fake?
When [narrator Slavoj Zizek's] firing on all cylinders, such as when he examines a series of voyeuristic characters peering through cracks or when he turns his analytical powers on Psycho, he brings new life to the films he discusses.
Slavoj Zizek brings his study of philosophy and psychoanalysis to bear on some of the great masterworks of film, examining them for hidden and not-so-hidden symbolism. This is strictly for those who like to do more than mindlessly watch movies. This is an exercise in dissection and, sometimes, in self-projection.
Zizek reminds us of the importance of context and of viewing productions from a social perspective. It's arguable that the information presented here may not be completely accurate. Film, like any other visual media, is subject to interpretation and debate. Still, this is compelling stuff. Very educational.
January 21, 2009
Randy Tippy
Super Reviewer
Lacaan and cinema. Only if you are totally willing to hear what Zizek has to say. If you are not one to be told what to think, and most importantly, if you are not then able to examine and filter that information according to your standards, there's nothing here for you.Zizek centers mostly on Hitchcock, Chaplin and
Lynch, and about these subjects he is quite illuminating, but it's hardly a Universal vision of cinema! However, it's a starting point and a motive to search deeper into the extensive literature available regarding psychoanalytic perspectives on films and auteurs.
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