The Pundit

Zizek!

By Shannon Marinko ⋅ August 7, 2006 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

As a rule (And I have plenty of them in my narrow, sad little life.), I think it’s good to be wary of movies with exclamation points in the title. Especially when the preceding word is in another language. I don’t know what ‘Zisek!’ means; it could be ‘Splade!’ or something else. So imagine my surprise when I found out Zizek! is not the name of something boring’no’it’s actually the surname of a bombastic Slovenian academic, complete with green corduroy jacket! Strap yourselves in, we’re in for a roller coaster of fun here.

And, strangely enough, sometimes, yeah, it is. Slavoj Zizek (Think Barry Jones on speed with a cleft palate. ActuallyÔø?ƒ?no, don’t.) is something of a celebrity academic (possibly more for his personality than his teachings), specialising in sociology, philosophy and other topics I don’t pretend to understand. Regardless, he’s hysterically (and addictively) passionate about whatever he’s talking about. Not in a calm, wide-eyed David Attenborough-way either. He’s off the charts. Even his five-year-old son’s toys are not safe from analysis. Zisek explains that his son is ‘progressive’ because he has two ‘lesbian’ Lego women ruling the playroom.

Thankfully, there are some shallower offerings in here for the punters too, with plenty of catchy sound bites destined to plaster amateur reviews like this. Stuff like ‘Love is evil’ and ‘Vegetarians are degenerates.’ You believe him too. The film sometimes bogs itself down with its verbosity. But, hey, if you’re into that sort of stuff, you’ll probably be sweating with excitement.

Also, the short film Death of the Revolution, which would’ve been better had the lead child actor’s English accent not been so thick.