"Examined Life"

By David Hudson on 02/25/2009

[Updated through 2/26]

"Examined Life" is "very much a follow-up to Astra Taylor's 'Zizek!,' a 2005 documentary that allowed the Lacanian cultural theorist to hold forth on a variety of topics," writes Louis Proyect, self-described "Unrepentant Marxist" and no fan of Slavoj Zizek, nor, for that matter, the other seven philosophers featured in the doc: "Despite the underwhelming character of their reflections, I have nothing but admiration for Taylor's movie-making skills and urge others to see the movie, whatever their feelings about 'theory' and its postmodernist abuses."

"Taylor's emphasis is on moral philosophy and, although her film's structure is not exactly dialectical, it's been assembled so that, without ever meeting face-to-face, the philosophers appear to critique each other's ideas." J Hoberman in the Voice: "Thus, after [Cornel] West convenes the symposium by invoking Socrates' defense of self-reflection ('The unexamined life is not worth living'), [Avital] Ronell pops up to interrogate the nature of self-reflection, questioning the filmmaker as to the nature of her project and slyly invoking Heidegger's 'path to nowhere' as she strides purposefully through a Manhattan park as filled with layabouts as any Greek agora."

"Peter Singer, responding to the luxury emporiums of Fifth Avenue, riffs on how we spend money and, ultimately, on his signature topic of animal rights," notes Arthur C Danto in Artforum. "Slavoj Zizek, in an orange vest, declaims, in a London dump, that ecology is garbage. Michael Hardt cannot help smirking in his skiff as he paddles about a Central Park lake, ringed by luxury condominiums, talking about revolution."

"Part of the fun of 'Examined Life' comes from watching these very intelligent people try to make themselves intelligible," writes AO Scott. "And the movie is fun, within certain limits. For some reason, Ms Taylor has drawn her subjects from a narrow intellectual precinct, where the work of philosophical speculation and the agendas of progressive politics are assumed to be congruent."

Also in the New York Times, Dennis Lim talks with Taylor about the moment it "occurred to her that her talking heads should walk and talk. She had just read 'Wanderlust,' a discursive study of the history of walking by Rebecca Solnit, and was reminded of the figure of the peripatetic philosopher, from Aristotle (who paced the Lyceum while teaching) to Kierkegaard (a proponent of thinking while walking, which he frequently did in the Copenhagen streets) to Walter Benjamin (the embodiment of the Paris flâneur). She realized that putting her subjects in motion would elicit a different kind of interview than if they were seated behind their desks in offices. This conceit became a guiding principle for a film that would attempt to take philosophy out of the ivory tower and affirm its place in the flux of everyday life."

"Early on, Martha Nussbaum discusses the oft-ignored concept of physical disability and impairment and how when we discuss these issues, we don't factor these limitations into the equation," writes Michael Tully at Hammer to Nail. "Later, we meet the wheelchair-bound Sunaura Taylor and acclaimed professor and author Judith Butler as they go for a 'walk' and shop. Watching Taylor go through the exhausting process of trying on a sweater and then buying it is a welcome punch to the gut. As she explains to the cashier that she must be handed the bills and coins separately, this one scene doesn't just work as a visceral representation of Nussbaum's point. It brings a sobering reality to the entire film."

"When Taylor and I met up over coffee in Williamsburg, Brooklyn," notes Aaron Hillis, introducing his interview for IFC, "we discussed the possibility of chatting in the car in which West was filmed, but it was unfortunately being used to sing in by her husband, Jeff Mangum (reclusive frontman of the influential 90s indie-pop band Neutral Milk Hotel), who also contributed some sounds to the film's score.

And for Filmmaker, Nick Dawson talks with her "about the challenges of making philosophy cinematic, following in Ari Folman's footsteps at Hot Docs, and why she always skips the previews at movies."

Andrew Schenker in Slant: "To the degree that an examined life can help us become more responsible citizens, Taylor's film makes a case for the continued relevance of organized systems of thought, but in bringing philosophy to the street, the director unwittingly points up the disconnect between the academic inclination to think critically and the apparent indifference of the masses. As a call to arms, the film is occasionally rousing, but given its inevitably limited distribution, it's pretty much preaching to the converted."

"Examined Life" opens at the IFC Center tonight; Taylor will be on hand along with Avital Ronell. Tomorrow night, she'll be accompanied by Kwame Anthony Appiah and on March 5 by Cornel West. Then the film begins its tour across the country; see the Zeitgeist Films site for cities and dates.

Updates: Noting that "Examined Life" will be released in book form by the New Press, AS Hamrah introduces his interview with Taylor for n+1: "'Examined Life' ignores and therefore refutes television techniques. It is serene yet exciting, allowing us to understand and experience the mind-states evoked by the thinkers in the movie: 'anxiety is the mood par excellence of ethicity' (Ronell); philosophy emerges from 'personal catastrophe lyrically expressed' (West); 'we should develop a much more terrifying abstract materialism' (Zizek)."

Brandon Harris at the SpoutBlog: "It seems somewhat appropriate then that I caught up with Astra via cell phone, while she strolled around Austin, TX."

Update, 2/26: "'Examined Life' has a certain flavor of intellectual game show or high-concept magazine article about it, and I say that with affection," writes Salon's Andrew O'Hehir. "Drag these people out into the real world, urge them to riff rapidly about the issues nearest and dearest to them and, at least by implication or context, make them compete with each other.... You could view this format as manifestly unfair to those philosophers who are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with becoming pop-culture performers as West has done, or you could decide that that's part of the job description for a public intellectual these days, and they'd better sharpen up."

[Photo: Kwame Anthony Appiah in "Examined Life," Zeitgeist Films, 2009]

Tags: Astra Taylor, Examined Life, Slavoj Zizek