Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Two Takes by William Greaves
In his one-of-a-kind fiction/documentary hybrid Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, the pioneering William Greaves presides over a beleaguered film crew in New York’s Central Park, leaving them to try to figure out what kind of movie they’re making. A couple enacts a breakup scenario over and over, a documentary crew films a crew filming the crew, locals wander casually into the frame: the project defies easy description. Yet this wildly innovative sixties counterculture landmark remains one of the most tightly focused and insightful movies ever made about making movies, expanded thirty-five years later by its unconventional follow-up, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 2½. The “sequel” sees Take One actors Audrey Henningham and Shannon Baker reunited in a more personal, metatheatrical exploration of the effects of the passage of time on technology, the artistic process, and relationships—real and fabricated.
Director-Approved Special Edition Features
- High-definition digital transfers of both films, approved by director William Greaves, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-ray
SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXIPLASM TAKE ONE (1968 • 75 minutes • Color • Monaural • 1.33:1 aspect ratio)
SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXIPLASM TAKE 2½ (2005 • 99 minutes • Color • Monaural • 1.78:1 aspect ratio) - Discovering William Greaves (2006), a documentary on the director’s career, featuring Greaves, his wife and coproducer Louise Archambault Greaves, actor Ruby Dee, filmmaker St. Clair Bourne, and film scholar Scott MacDonald
- Interview from 2006 with actor Steve Buscemi
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Amy Taubin and production notes by William Greaves for Take One
Cover by Neil Kellerhouse
Director-Approved Special Edition Features
- High-definition digital transfers of both films, approved by director William Greaves, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-ray
SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXIPLASM TAKE ONE (1968 • 75 minutes • Color • Monaural • 1.33:1 aspect ratio)
SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXIPLASM TAKE 2½ (2005 • 99 minutes • Color • Monaural • 1.78:1 aspect ratio) - Discovering William Greaves (2006), a documentary on the director’s career, featuring Greaves, his wife and coproducer Louise Archambault Greaves, actor Ruby Dee, filmmaker St. Clair Bourne, and film scholar Scott MacDonald
- Interview from 2006 with actor Steve Buscemi
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Amy Taubin and production notes by William Greaves for Take One
Cover by Neil Kellerhouse
Cast
- TAKE ONE
- TAKE ONE
- Patricia Ree Gilbert
- Alice
- Don Fellows
- Freddie
- Jonathan Gordon
- Bob Rosen
- William Greaves
- TAKE 2½
- TAKE 2½
- Audrey Henningham
- Alice
- Shannon Baker
- Freddie
- Jonathan Gordon
- Marcia Karp
- Steve Buscemi
Credits
- TAKE ONE
- TAKE ONE
- Director
- William Greaves
- Produced and edited by
- William Greaves
- Coproducer
- Manuel Melamed
- Director of photography
- Terence Macartney-Filgate
- Director of photography
- Stevan Larner
- Music
- Miles Davis
- TAKE 2½
- TAKE 2½
- Produced and directed by
- William Greaves
- Executive producer
- Steven Soderbergh
- Executive producer
- Steve Buscemi
- Coproducer
- Louise Archambault Greaves
- Editor
- Christopher Osborn
- Line producer
- Bill Stitt
- Cinematography
- Terence Macartney-Filgate
- Cinematography
- Phil Parmet
- Cinematography
- Stevan Larner
- Cinematography
- Henry Adebonojo
- Cinematography
- Jonathan Weaver
Trailer for Symbiopsychotaxiplasm
