Swimming to Cambodia

On of the most unique, original and compelling film experiences is recent memory. Spalding Gray is a performance artist and this is merely a filming of one of his shows, which is roughly a recounting of his adventures as an actor in the film “The Killing Fields,” but the story merely provides a framework in which to showcase his offbeat perspective, his gift for mimicry, snd his (occasiomally wicked) satire. The tale he weaves is outlandish, eoutragemous, almost hallucimatery. In fact, the opening segment recounts a bad acid trip; this is also the least accessible part of the monologue--it's almost too grotesque for my suburban sensibilities, too weird, but once you get past this, the narrative bullds and sweeps you along until you almost experience what he went through, and the truths he recognized. A lot of it is hilarious, some is disturbing, but it is all fascinating. His minimal props, incidentally, include a map of Southeast Asia, and at the very least the monologue gives a brief orientation on the horrors of the Cambodian apocalypse.