There's more of an architecture inherent to the film than if it were simply a succession of staged readings by Blanchett-but those readings, and her transformations, are mesmerizing, and often very funny.

As tiresome an evening at the movies as any humorless drone could ever hope to inflict on an audience.

Cate Blanchett plays 13 unconnected characters in wildly disparate situations who shout, whisper, and otherwise recite both famous and not-so-famous manifestos, including those by Fluxus, Dogme 9 -- yay! -- and the Dadaists.