Zizek!

It’s quite stunning just how dull Zizek! really is, but it also seems obvious that the film has unapologetically been geared towards a very, very specific audience. Slavoj Zizek is an eminent philosopher with some very specific ideas on a whole host of subjects, from political science to modern Christianity to Alfred Hitchcock movies. Zizek, a large, imposing man with an unkempt beard, speaks incredibly fast and has an extremely heavy accent (which is exacerbated by his pronounced lisp), making it virtually impossible to decipher at least half of what he’s saying. Director Astra Taylor allows Zizek the opportunity to talk and talk (and talk), giving the film the feel of a particularly boring college lecture. It doesn’t help that Zizek essentially comes off as a rambling lunatic, the sort you might find muttering to himself on a random street corner. But somehow the man has become a respected figure, worthy of a 71-minute documentary. Having said that, it’s clear that fans of Zizek’s work (of which there must be many, judging from the enormous, appreciative audiences Zizek appears before throughout the film) will get a whole lot more out of this than neophytes (a primer to Zizek and his ideals this is not).

* out of ****