It won't be everybody's idea of entertainment but the heady documentary "Examined Life" provides a sound forum for an influential cross-section of professional thinkers to theorize on such weighty topics as life and death, politics, the environment and disabilities.
Examined Life
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Canada · 2008
1h 27m
Director Astra Taylor
Starring Cornel West, Judith Butler, Slavoj Žižek, Peter Singer
Genre Documentary
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Examined Life pulls philosophy out of academic journals and classrooms and puts it back on the streets. The film showcases eight influential modern philosophers walking around New York and other metropolises, discussing the practical application of their ideas in contemporary culture. Examined Life reveals philosophy's power to transform how we see the world around us.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
A modest, intermittently engaging film.
By conducting her conversations in public spaces, and removing her interlocutors from desks and offices and book-lined studies and other appurtenances of intellectual authority, Taylor introduces a degree of playfulness and unpredictability that becomes the movie's M.O.
Ideas beam out from Astra Taylor's engaging new philoso-doc Examined Life; the viewer basks in the intelligence on-screen and, occasionally, soaks up the rays.
Slovenian-born writer-teacher Slavoj Zizek, narrator of the movie "A Pervert's Guide to the Cinema," provides the most entertainment.
Over the course of the film's 88-minutes, Taylor cuts away to what's happening around her subjects (the unexamined life, I suppose). Perhaps she's attempting to make connections the thinkers don't.
Users who liked this film also liked
Dead Ringers
Two bodies. Two minds. One soul.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada, United States • 1988
- Director David Cronenberg
- Cast Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, Heidi von Palleske, Barbara Gordon, Shirley Douglas, Stephen Lack
- Genre Thriller, Horror
- Available on Hoopla, Peacock, Apple TV, Vudu, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Popcornflix, Pluto TV, Kanopy, Shout! Factory TV, Plex, Plex Channel
Avatar
When humans invade a distant planet, a man sent to study the indigenous aliens struggles to choose sides.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States • 2009
- Director James Cameron
- Cast Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi
- Genre Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction
- Available on Disney Plus, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand
Mad Max: Fury Road
In an apocalyptic future, two rebels join forces.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Australia, United States • 2015
- Director George Miller
- Cast Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Josh Helman, Nathan Jones
- Genre Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand
Song of the Sea
Ben helps his mute sister find her voice in a world of Celtic mythology.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Ireland, Denmark, Belgium • 2014
- Director Tomm Moore
- Cast Brendan Gleeson, Fionnula Flanagan, David Rawle, Pat Shortt, Jon Kenny, Lisa Hannigan
- Genre Family, Animation, Fantasy
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Redbox
The Pervert's Guide to Ideology
Philosopher Slavoj Zizek examines the hidden themes and existential questions asked by world renowned films.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, Ireland • 2012
- Director Sophie Fiennes
- Cast Slavoj Žižek
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Apple TV, Kanopy, Hoopla
Room
A young mother raises her 5-year-old son in captivity and struggles to answer his mounting questions.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Ireland, Canada, United Kingdom • 2015
- Director Lenny Abrahamson
- Cast Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Joan Allen, William H. Macy, Sean Bridgers, Tom McCamus
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on Cinemax Amazon Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Cinemax Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Kanopy
Ex Machina
After winning a contest to spend a week with the CEO of his company, coder Caleb is given the opportunity of a lifetime
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2015
- Director Alex Garland
- Cast Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, Oscar Isaac, Sonoya Mizuno, Corey Johnson, Claire Selby
- Genre Drama, Science Fiction
- Available on Cinemax Amazon Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Cinemax Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, FlixFling, Spectrum On Demand, Kanopy
Coco
The celebration of a lifetime!
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United States, Mexico • 2017
- Director Lee Unkrich
- Cast Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach, Renée Victor, Jaime Camil
- Genre Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Music
- Available on Disney Plus, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand
Bohemian Rhapsody
Fearless lives forever
- ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States • 2018
- Director Bryan Singer
- Cast Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Lucy Boynton, Aidan Gillen
- Genre Drama, Music
- Available on FXNow, fuboTV, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Amazon Video, AMC on Demand
Joker
A failed stand-up comedian is driven insane, turning to a life of crime in chaos in Gotham City.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada, United States • 2019
- Director Todd Phillips
- Cast Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Shea Whigham
- Genre Crime, Thriller, Drama
- Available on TNT, TBS, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand
Parasite
(기생충)
A poor family lies and schemes their way into the employ of a wealthy household — successfully, but with great consequences.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2019
- Director Bong Joon-ho
- Cast Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Chang Hyae-jin
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Thriller
- Available on Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand