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While I'm not crazy about the overall plot/story (or lack thereof), this is such a great film to have a dialogue about, particularly since I work in television and the sorts of issues that Wexler raises here are issues that everyone still wrestles with. If anything, television has become even more compromised by the rise of reality television, which has been further complicated by the willing complicity and partnership of the person on camera with the person off camera. My mind is sort of reeling with all the self-reflexive implications the film had in the moment of 68 and the echoes and additional meanings Medium Cool has when placed in the entirely different contexts of post 68 eras of television production or post 68 eras of politics.

The dichotomy/cognitive-dissonance the film raised in me is fascinating, the sense of continuity-and-continual-change, everything is different everything is the same.

Additionally, the visual density of the film is astonishing. the plot and dialogue here are not the engine that moves the story forward, they're secondary to how the visuals define and drive the narrative. A great example of this is the naked romp in the apartment, with the lighting, set dressing and background images pushing and pulling us in different directions--just as the physical bodies are being pushed and pulled in different directions in their 'fight.

I bought this movie last week but only just managed to find the time to watch it. While I echo some of the sentiments critiquing the lack of engaging plot points, I did find the 'ethos' of the time that the film transposed to be very interesting.

I stared at the screen with a borderline academic intensity—I studied history, political science and philosophy in college, with interests in various American social and cultural subfields. In particular, I devoted a large chunk of my studies to the social and political unrest of 'the 1960s' (late '50s to mid-'70s) and I think this movie offers a fresh (for a first time viewer) perspective on that era.

It struck a nice balance between the tongue-in-cheek nature of films like Harold and Maude or Head where the sheen of optimism from the '60s was fading, yet didn't quite get to the full-on disillusionment of something like Easy Rider or Badlands.

It's hard to write about this film without praising the closing scenes, and despite this having already happened plenty of times, I'll say it again: the closing scenes are wonderful—easily the best part of the film.

I'm excited to plow through the extras once I finish moving into my new place. This is a film where the making-of might be more fascinating than the film itself!