ANATOMY OF FAILURE (D: Minou Norouzi, Austria, UK, U.S.). 53 minutes. April 25, 7:15 pm April 27, 2:30 pm, ROM. Rating: N
This strange pic wants to be the cinematic equivalent of literary non-fiction, but it winds up being just plain self-indulgent.Director Minou Norouzi seeks out the five women who made up Carlos Castaneda’s harem and who disappeared after he died in 1990.
What starts as an intriguing exposé of the spiritual leader’s toxic sexism loses steam, as does the chase itself. We meet some Castaneda fanatics, and there’s an inane interview with a faceless subject that acts as a frame, but it’ll all just make you say, “Huh?”