"In contrast to the activism of linguist Noam Chomsky, the subject of this documentary from Amy Ziering Kofman and Kirby Dick (who profiled a deconstructionist of a different sort in his 1997 film Sick: The Life & Times of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist) seems comfortable in his self-admitted "narcissism." So does the movie, which playfully mirrors the elfin French philosopher Jacques Derrida as he opaquely reflects on such topics as love, forgiveness, anti-Semitism, the self, biography, and himself (in one witty scene, the camera pans from Derrida to his mirror image as he reflects on the meaning of the myth of Echo and Narcissus). As is fitting, the film becomes not so much a film about Derrida as a film about making a film about Derrida, and a film about making a film about making a film about Derrida -- a project that's summed up in a scene in which Derrida watches himself on screen watching himself on screen refusing to answer a question about how he and his wife met.

For all that, the subject himself is delightful, white-haired and funny and touchingly human as he pours syrup on waffles while the radio broadcasts bad news from the Middle East. As for his daunting philosophy of deconstruction, the brief passages from his books read in voiceover suggest that, as Derrida himself advises fans of Seinfeld, the viewer's time might be better spent reading. (84 minutes) Opens Friday at the Cable Car.