If you secretly still believe that the ‘60s represented the apex of American culture, then check out this otherwise non-engrossing psychotropic semi-autobiographical tale in which writer/director/star Conrad Rooks enters a Swiss asylum for a "sleeping cure." In place of anything so bourgeois as coherent narrative, we're offered creative anarchy (a.k.a. godawful artistic license) as Rooks' character drifts in and out of a flashback-ridden stupor. Cameos by William S. Burroughs, the late Allen Ginsberg, and Ornette Coleman add...well...names to this effort, but none of them are allotted anywhere near the screen time as some babe (who looks like she'd be right at home on a Donovan LP cover) who apparently caught Rooks' eye and was therefore prominently featured in the film. Not a necessary purchase. (R. Pitman)
Chappaqua
(Fox Lorber, 82 min., not rated, avail. May 6) Vol. 12, Issue 3
Chappaqua
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