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One look at his varied filmography, and it's easy to suspect that there might be more than one Steven Soderbergh. Is the director of slick entertainments like "Traffic" and "Ocean's Eleven" the same man who conceived of the indie classic "Sex, Lies, Videotape," the fragmented thriller "The Limey," the experimental "Full Frontal," and the arty sci-fi flop "Solaris?" But to anybody who's seen Soderbergh's freewheeling "Schizopolis" (1996), none of his multiple identities will come as a surprise.

For starters, there are two Soderberghs in the movie: the director plays both leads, one as Fletcher Munson, underling in a Scientology-like church run by one T. Azimuth Schwitters (Mike Malone.) Soderbergh also plays Dr. Korchek, who has an affair with Munson's wife, who happens to be played by Betsy Brantley, Soderbergh's then-about-to-be-ex-wife. Naked men streak through a park, a randy bugman spews nonsense dialogue while he's persued by a mysterious film team. During a lull, the camera pans to a tree adorned with a sign: "Idea missing."

In other words, "Schizopolis" is a very odd movie, certainly Soderbergh's most over-the-top. There is a plot, but it's told from three different angles in scenes that overlap and repeat. In all of his films, Soderbergh shows a readiness to experiment with conventions. Here, he abandons all reservations and let his whims play freely.

The result is hard to define. I would call "Schizopolis" a one-of-a-kind self-referential meditation on doubles and coincidences, a biting contemporary satire bordering on the absurd, the brutally honest work of a confessional auteur, and a lasting example of the high ironic style of the mid-nineties.

But that doesn't quite sum it up either.

This much is clear: "Schizopolis" is a mind-bending document of one of America's most versatile directors at his most audacious. Did I mention it's also very funny?

The Criterion DVD of "Schizopolis" includes an essay by Dennis Lim, "Maximum Busy Muscle," and a commentary track by members of the cast and crew. A second track is the funniest DVD commentary I have heard yet: a very adoring Soderbergh-the-reporter interviews a vainglorious, egotistical Soderbergh-the-director, and he keeps the hilarious shtick up for the duration of the film.