Seeking the Monkey King

Ken Jacobs, now in his 70s, might be the most radical U.S. filmmaker working today. Seeking the Monkey King, his most acclaimed and bracing film in recent years, offers a visionary lamentation about the state of America today. The film unleashes tremendous energy as a clamorous collage soundtrack (by the equally adventurous musician J. G. Thirlwell) plays overtop of a roiling abstract landscape, punctuated by Jacobs's topical, outraged intertitles ranting about American greed and corruption.