Review of Derrida (2002) by Philip S — 11 Sep 2007

This is a "dcoumentary" about French philosopher Jacques Derrida. I'd never heard of him before this and only saw this film because it was a friend's homework. The man himself is interesting and he is clearly an intelligent speaker on the subject of decontruction.

The film, however, does not live up to the subject. The filmmakers fail utterly to give their documentary a life of its own. (As we are quickly informed, the exercise itself is futile as no true "documentary" can be made, particularly when it comes to deconstruction - the subject being observed is no longer the original subject and therefore the film is about a contruct, a phantom.

..in short, nothing.) While some of the blurbs are interesting, others are maddening. It would take too long to go into it here, but suffice to say that much of the philosophy contained within is simply wordplay (start with a seemingly benign premise and then twist the words used within to draw increasingly tangential and digressive conclusions until you come up with a nice soundbite - ugh).