What the Bleep Do We Know!?

This fascinating, nearly unclassifiable movie hybrid is a documentary about the theoretical interrelationship between spirituality, biology, and quantum physics--but, quite creatively, its intricate existential concepts are wrapped around a fictional story, used to illustrate and make comprehensible a slew of heavy-thinking wild notions. It's a film that fires the mind with scores of terrific circular scientific quandaries (turns out that experiencing, remembering, and imagining an event all trigger the exact same signals in the exact same areas of the brain, so what is reality and how the bleep can one tell?), while also delving into under-examined notions of biology, physics, and even religion (Jesus' preaching about the mustard seed being larger than the kingdom of heaven is "pure quantum physics" says one science-wonk/philosopher interviewee). By loosely tying all of this into the interwoven narrative about a deaf photographer (Marlee Matlin) slowly emerging from a deep, bitter post-divorce funk, What the Bleep Do We Know!? provides an affecting accessibility while gradually painting a very large picture. The film does, however, slip from time to time into the realm of new-age spiritual hooey, and some of its glorified interview subjects radiate the same suspicious halcyon haze as weak-willed born-again types and cult members who want to convert the whole world. Taken overall, however, this is a true thinking-person's flick. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a 28-minute Q&A featurette with filmmakers William Arntz and Mark Vicente, seven segments of cast/crew interviews (39 min.), the music video “Emmanuel” by Aeon Spoke, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a provocative quasi-documentary.] (R. Blackwelder)