Perverted Cinema

When it comes to disengaging the pretentious from the academic, and making high culture accessible to anyone equipped with a brain—but who does not necessarily hold degrees from prestigious universities—Slavoj Zizek is on top of the game and in a league of his own. Disarmingly versatile and intelligent, the Slovenian intellectual can tackle almost any subject under the sun, but it’s philosophy and films that get his motor started.

All ye perverts and film buffs alike should flock to MoMA for a weeklong screening of The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema, the collaboration between director Sophie Fiennes and irrepressible psychoanalyst-cum-film connoisseur, Slavoj Zizek. The documentary is a comprehensive film-tour starting with Possessed and the Marx Brothers, making select stops at Hitchcock, Kubrick, Bergman, Lynch and reaching the finish-line with Matrix and Star Wars amongst other movies and directors. Zizek invites us to probe the cinematic universe and follow him through a masterful account of the unconscious as it relates to the visual.

Either as a narrator or as an actual physical addition to the films, Zizek will take you on a rollercoaster ride of the human mind. Expect everything from the person who balances continental philosophy and lavatory shapes in the same sentence and make sure to get there early for the April 18 event as he and Fiennes will participate in a Q&A session.

April 18-23, Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53 St. (betw. 5th & 6th Aves.), 212-708-9400; various times, $6-$10.