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From Charlie Kaufman, comes a visual and philosophic adventure, Synechdoche, New York. As he did with his groundbreaking scripts for Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Kaufman twists and subverts form and language as he delves into the mind of a man who, obsessed with his own mortality, sets out to construct a massive artistic enterprise that could give some meaning to his life. Theater director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is mounting a new play. His life catering to suburban blue-hairs at the local regional theater in Schenectady, New York is looking bleak. His wife Adele (Catherine Keener) has left him to pursue her painting in Berlin, taking their young daughter Olive with her. His therapist, Madeleine Gravis (Hope Davis), is better at plugging her best-seller than she is at counseling him. A new relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel (Samantha Morton) has prematurely run aground. And a mysterious condition is systematically shutting down each of his autonomic functions, one by one. Worried about the transience of his life, he leaves his home behind. He gathers an ensemble cast into a warehouse in New York City, hoping to create a work of brutal honesty. He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a growing mockup of the city outside. The years rapidly fold into each other, and Caden buries himself deeper into his masterpiece, but the textured tangle of real and theatrical relationships blurs the line between the world of the play and that of Caden’s own deteriorating reality.An insanely ambitious, dazzling, maddening movie, Synecdoche, NY is the directorial debut of Charlie Kaufman, the inspired screenwriter of twisty, mind-bending movies like Being John Malkovich, Adaptation., and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Broadly summarized, it’s about a director named Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who, after his wife leaves him, sets out to create a theater production that will mirror all of life in New York City by literally recreating the city inside of a gigantic warehouse–including versions of his lover, his new wife, and himself, who become so entrenched in his life that eventually there must also be doubles of these doubles… which only describes a fragment of the intertwining storylines. At points even the most attentive viewers may feel confused by the sheer abundance and density of ideas and narrative threads, as the movie veers from mundanity to an exaggerated but not impossible reality to sheer surrealism. But by the end, though the movie folds in on itself multiple times and tries to encompass more of life than any movie can coherently contain, Synecdoche, NY comes to a remarkably full and resonant conclusion. Think of it as Kaufman’s version of 8 1/2, another movie about creativity and a conflicted psyche. Hoffman’s performance, solid but difficult to empathize with, is balanced by dozens of vivid characters played by an astonishing cast, including Samantha Morton, Catherine Keener, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hope Davis, Michelle Williams, Dianne Wiest, Emily Watson, and more. Sprawling, flawed, both intimate and epic, Synecdoche, NY is a unique and impressive achievement that will reward (and perhaps even demands) multiple viewings. –Bret Fetzer
Stills from Synecdoche, New York (click for larger image)
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Rating: 
(out of 103 reviews)
List Price: $ 24.95
Price: $ 15.89
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Review by Daniel B. Clendenin for Synecdoche, New York [Blu-ray]
Rating:
The question for this complex and weird film is whether writer-director Charlie Kaufman’s artistic ambition will ultimately frustrate viewer patience. When I saw the film, a couple in front of me walked out halfway through. You will probably love or hate this film; reviews have been sharply divided.
Philip Seymour Hofmann stars as Caden Cotard, a theater director mired in all the midlife crises, real and imagined, of body, mind and spirit. The film begins conventionally enough, or so it seems, but there are telltale signs early-on that Kaufman is going to play with reality itself — a cartoon on the family TV features Caden as a character, and a realtor walks a client through a house that is permanemtly on fire. Those are two ominous metaphors.
The giveway is that the name “Cotard” bears a striking resemblance to that of the French postmodernist Jean-Francois Lyotard. We shouldn’t be surprised when Caden quits his career doing theater among the “blue hairs” in suburban Schenectady, New York, where his latest production was “Death of a Salesman,” and with the help of a MacArthur genius grant (a cruel irony given his circumstances) moves to a cavernous warehouse in New York City and recreates his confused life through what eventually becomes a cast of hundreds of characters. Yes, life is a stage and we’re the actors.
In his book The Post-Modern Condition (1979), Lyotard made (in)famous the notion of “incredulity toward meta-narrrative,” a fancy way of saying that there are no truly universal or absolute meanings or truths in life, and that all meaning is a personal or social construction. This is exactly what Caden tries to do — he creates meaning in his life through characters who portray his life. He keeps changing the name of the play, one of which is “Simulacrum” (= an insubstantial semblance of something). He keeps saying that he “finally” knows how he wants to direct the play. Indeed, the play is never finished but is instead a building project that piles floor upon floor of sets; it never ends. For Kaufman there’s a very thin line between authenticity and absurdity, genuine reality and mere representation, living life and playing roles, healthy self-awareness (however painful) and oppressive self-consciousness, and between true life and certain death.
Does Caden’s effort to manufacture even the barest micro-meaning make any sense? The last line of the movie offers a glimmer of hope. Maybe.
Review by TinyVessels for Synecdoche, New York [Blu-ray]
Rating:
The first thing I would like to point out is that it will be disliked by a lot of people at first, but later be loved by many just like Citizen Kane. Don’t believe me? You can either 1) read Ebert’s review, or 2) wait and see for yourself.
Synecdoche, New York isn’t only the best movie of the year, but it is the best movie that Charlie Kaufman has written to date. It’s a film that everyone needs to watch more than once to get what he is trying to say. There are scenes that is impossible to know if they are real or just a dream. Time moves at a different pace and you never really know where you’re at. But the most interesting part of the movie lies with the purpose of the writing; Charlie Kaufman wanted to write a horror movie. And not just any typical genre film, but things that scare him. He puts the fear of being alone, of dying by a random cause, of being rejected in everything that you do. Kaufman does such a good job writing for Caden that you begin to feel his pain, to feel his fear. That is true talent. The movie isn’t made to scare you, rather Kaufman wanted to do something original with the horror genre. [...]
If you haven’t seen the movie yet don’t go to the site. It has spoilers galore. Aside from the writing, the direction and the acting is phenomenal, especially the performance given by Philip Seymour Hoffman. It just goes to show you that the Oscars really do overlook some of the best movies of the year. Once you get into the movie there is no escaping it until it is over.
Review by RMurray847 for Synecdoche, New York [Blu-ray]
Rating:
I don’t even know how to start reviewing SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK, the new film from writer (ETERNAL SUNSHINE, ADAPTATION) and first-time director Charles Kaufman. I’ve been looking for a way in to this review since seeing the film two evenings ago.
Here’s the best I can come up with: what WAITING FOR GODOT is to Theatre-Of-The-Absurd, SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK is to Film-of-the-Absurd. Both projects are brilliant, yet also maddeningly difficult to fathom at times. GODOT, set on a stage decorated with just one bare tree, dared to explore the very condition of living in a world without meaning. SYNECDOCHE uses all the tricks available to filmmakers to explore many of the same questions. Or perhaps it’s just one big question.
GODOT is an all-time classic. It is both the epitome and the definition of absurdist theatre. Books have been written about it, and it is still stage with great regularity all over the world, by theatre companies eager to plumb new meaning (or any meaning) from it. SYNECDOCHE will probably not generate such devotion or ruminations. But to view this film is be immersed in the same feelings as a good production of GODOT will get you: to laugh, to feel great sadness, to be confused as hell and to also feel that true understanding of it is tantalizing close, and yet always out of reach.
(I’ll admit right here that others will see this film and merely be extremely irritated by it, or think of it as a clever but somewhat boring mindgame. These are also quite valid reactions.)
The film begins on a seemingly typical day in the life of Caden (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) a theatre director in a smallish town in upstate New York (Synecdoche…and don’t ask me why Kaufman didn’t spell it Schenectady). He’s near the opening of his production of DEATH OF A SALESMAN, and he seems as miserable doing what he does as Willy Loman is with his life. His clock radio comes on, and we hear that it is September 1. When Caden arrives in the kitchen for breakfast, the TV tells us it is Halloween, and moments later, a story indicating the date as November 2 is on the radio. So we get the idea, if we’re paying attention, that Caden’s days are all strikingly similar to each other and that if you see one morning, you’re seeing them all. Time is zooming by him. To him, he might experience a week, but in fact a year goes by.
Anyway, Caden is married to Catherine Keener, a visual artist who paints very detailed and VERY tiny miniatures. Some of the funniest moments in film this year revolve around these miniatures…but it’s a dry wit. (For example, here pictures are about 1″ square. She’s sending some to a gallery in Berlin, and for each painting, she has constructed a tiny little shipping crate, complete with excelsior.) Keener is also practically seething with loathing for Caden, because she feels he has long since given up searching for truth in his art. They have a young daughter, Olive.
Eventually, Caden’s wife and child go to Berlin for a gallery opening, leaving Caden behind. And they never return. It is in these events that we begin to see how disconnected from life Caden is. He still believes his daughter is a young girl…but she ages into a young adult. Caden himself is visibly aging before our eyes…yet he doesn’t seem aware of it. He’s afflicted by mysterious ailments, which to him seem to come virtually all at once…yet in reality, they are illnesses that might come one at a time over a many decade span. The illnesses of aging.
During his life, Caden is surrounded by many women. Michelle Williams plays an actress who is enamored of Caden, or at least his ability to get her cast. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Keener’s best friend, who may also be leading his daughter Olive astray. Hope Davis is his psychiatrist, who doesn’t seem to be on his side at all. But most important is Hazel (Samantha Morton), his box office manager and the one woman who actually seems to cherish Caden…not that he can see it.
As if this weren’t confusing enough, early in the movie, Caden is awarded a grant to produce a giant, meaningful, truthful and important piece…anything he wants to do. He rents perhaps the largest warehouse in the world and plans to stage “the truth.” He begins to construct a set that basically is to consist of every setting in his own life, and begins to cast actors who will play everyone he’s ever known. Yet he can never bring this piece to completion because while he attempts to stage his life, he continues to have a life, which results in needing to add more and more and more to the play. Years and years and years go by.
In two hours, we get to see all of Caden’s adult life from the age of roughly 35. He appears to experience it in just months. Is Kaufman saying that Caden (and therefore US) are so busy trying to control, plan or understand our lives that it simply zooms by and we miss it? Yes, that is part of it. He’s also reminding us that we are each the “stars” of our own lives…and that the supporting players in our lives are the “stars” of their own lives and that we might be more or less of supporting players in their lives than they are in ours.
But in the end, it seems that Kaufman is trying to make us feel what it is like to live, to age, to come to grips with all our disappointments and to finally get down to a basic understanding of ourselves. How everything is ultimately stripped away and we are left with nothing but our most basic needs. And how if we’re lucky, those needs MIGHT be met before we die. But perhaps I’m wrong. That’s my impression, but I’ll be every viewer takes away something different.
The movie has many, many funny and ridiculous moments. I found myself laughing out loud many times. But the overall feeling is of a sadness so deep, it can only be a sadness of the soul. It isn’t a pleasant feeling, particularly as some of the moments may strike a chord…but it feels accurate.
The film is beautifully made. Kaufman has used CGI to craft a stage setting for Caden’s “masterpiece” that is breathtaking in scale. The makeup in the movie is wonderful as well…some of the most subtle aging work I’ve seen.
Everyone is very good. Keener is always an intelligent presence who pops off the screen, this time with barely concealed anger. Davis and Williams are quite good. Later, Emily Watson and Dianne Wiest make appearances, and they are also very welcome. But I’ve got to give special notice to 3 performers. Tom Noonan plays the man who is cast to play Caden in the play Caden produces. Noonan is an amazing screen presence, and while for a change he isn’t playing a killer (MANHUNTER, THE PLEDGE), he manages to be both sympathetic yet a little scary. Samantha Morton deserves Oscar consideration for her glowing performance. And Hoffman once again knocks it out of the park (big surprise!). It’s the kind of role we think he can do in his sleep…but he finds variations and tones that force him to dig deeper than we’ve seen.
I’m going to stop here, because while I’ve told you a lot, I’ve only skimmed the surface. SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK is not going to be my favorite film of all time…but you can bet I’ll return to it again and again, if only in the hopes of solving its beautiful and frustrating puzzle.
Review by Richard Yee for Synecdoche, New York [Blu-ray]
Rating:
Let me put this review in perspective. I love Charlie Kaufman. “Adaptation” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” are two of my favorite movies of all time. I also have a history of loving bizarre movies, even if I don’t understand everything that’s going on. “Brazil,” “Mulholland Drive,” and “Primer” come to mind.
So the problem isn’t that “Synecdoche, New York” is “too weird” for me. The problem is that, while those other films used their weirdness to enhance their stories or as pure mind-bending entertainment, the weirdness of this film just felt tedious and self-indulgent. It trampled on my brain rather than engaging it. The premise is intriguing (building a replica of a replica of a replica of reality), and the beginning of the film is quirky and funny, but the story just gets more and more complicated and emotionally detached, to the point that I couldn’t wait for it to end. It reminds me of what Quentin Tarantino did with “Death Proof,” and P.T. Anderson did with “There Will Be Blood,” and M. Night Shyamalan did with “The Happening.” You get to a point where you’re popular enough to do whatever you want, and then you turn out a boring, self-indulgent mess.
Bottom line: The film bored and confused me more than it entertained, but if you’re a Charlie Kaufman fan or a fan of bizarre, challenging, and philosophical movies, you might want to give it a chance. Apparently, many others have had the exact opposite experience as me, so you may find this more mentally stimulating than I did.
Richard Yee, author of Deliveries: A Collection
Review by Michigan Guy for Synecdoche, New York [Blu-ray]
Rating:
For me, this movie woke me up about a half hour in with the realization that I was watching and hearing thoughts that have been in my own head for years. If you find your inner voice keeping you up late at night, going over and over the same painful questions then I think you will be familiar with the experience of watching this film.
Keeping in mind that most sane people seek professional help and pharmaceutical relief from this experience, it does seem like an odd choice to market the experience in DVD form. That said, I find it strangely therapeutic to know that I am not alone in my head, Charlie is there to keep me company. I believe it was the philosopher, Pascal, who suggested that the strongest motivation in our lives is to distract ourselves from the reality that life is, for the most part, an horrible and painful experience. This film is not a distraction it is a mirror. For those out there that prefer to believe that life is a precious and beautiful miracle, and take their prozac and church services seriously… You might want to stay away from this movie.
To the nuts and bolts of the film. The only things that are taking some time to get used to are the obvious jumps out of reality. Living in a smoldering house for example, the airplane scene is another. My question is how these whimsical elements fit in film about the torture of life? Maybe that, as predictable as you feel life has become, occasionally you will be surprised by surreal moments? Or maybe it is just Charlie sticking his head in your face reminding you to smile?
If you’re a person that should be on antidepressants but choose not to be because you believe life should be experienced rather than hidden from you might appreciate this film.. If you “don’t get it” I guess you can be thankful? Or maybe you need to watch it again with the idea in mind that for a lot of people, this the reality that goes on between their ears.