Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Starring: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Tom Noonan, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Hope Davis, Dianne Wiest

Director: Charlie Kaufman (in his directorial debut, also screenwriter)

The Lowdown: Caden Cotard (Hoffman), a perpetually paranoid theater director, unexpectedly receives a MacArthur genius grant not long after his wife (Keener) leaves him. Cotard subsequently decides to use the genius grant to fund his magnum opus: he buys a gigantic warehouse which he uses to house a gigantic world to create an accurate depiction of his own life. What results is a seemingly lifespan encompassing work that begins to include a play within a play, within a play, within a play within the film. This also includes actors playing the actors playing the people in Caden's life and so on and so forth.


The Good: First of all, it must be said that anybody familiar with Charlie Kaufman and the films he has written knows to expect something weird whenever his name is attached to a project. This is after all a man whose screenplays have included films about a portal into John Malkovich's brain and the weirdest love triangle ever (Being John Malkovich), a procedure through which people can have ex-lovers erased from their memory (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and a film featuring Kaufman himself and an imaginary twin brother as its lead characters (Adaptation).

To be frank however, Synecdoche, New York may very well be the weirdest and most ambitious film of Charlie Kaufman's career.

The story moves beyond post-modern and into an expansive, decades spanning story of recursive reality that houses loads of supporting characters as we journey through the life of Caden Cotard (wonderfully played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, one of the best working actors of the past five years). As such, it is very difficult to sum up the story, but here are some highlights without spoiling anything plot-wise:

- The film seemingly drifts freely and without warning between dream and reality.
- Likewise, time jumps occur without warning and often in nontraditional ways.
-There's a house that's perpetually on fire for approximately 30 years worth of story time.
-Caden's magnum opus is staged inside a gigantic warehouse that, as it depicts his life, seemingly develops into its on society via the play within a play within a play which progresses to the point of warehouses within the warehouse within the warehouse.
- Caden is a paranoid and neurotic protagonist that would make Woody Allen proud.
- On first viewing the film is exceptionally confusing and jarring for the uninitiated, myself included.

The above may sound like it borders on the Avant-garde and the impenetrably weird. However, while some of the weirder films released in recent years have been unwatchable and unrelatable even after multiple viewings (I'm talking to you Inland Empire) on its very first viewing Synecdoche , New York is still an entertaining if confusing film. And to even those who are initially bewildered by the film's weirdness on first glance, I urge you to give it a second viewing like I did. Having experienced it once already I was less surprised by the bizarre presentation of the film the second time around and saw it in a whole new light. I realized that what I had seen was a simultaneously dark, hilarious, touching and ambitious film that was raw and uncompromising in a way few American films are these days. The cast is similarly full of a variety of great performances from Tom Noonan as Caden's stalker, Dianne Wiest as one of the actress in his opus, Hope Davis as his therapist and Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton and Emily Watson as the cavalcade of lovers that progressively enter and leave his life.

Of course, the film's greatest draw other than Kaufman's vision is Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance. Hoffman easily bounces back and forth between Caden's paranoia and vulnerability, as well as his gigantic ego, and never once makes it seem unlikely for these aspects to coexist.

In the end, Synecdoche, New York is a beautiful, heartbreaking, hilarious and original look at life, death and everything in between that has a lot to offer anyone willing to be patient with its complex narrative and its quirks.



The Bad: While I personally loved the film, I will still warn that its not immediately accessible and definitely not for everyone. Many will be put off by its often grim outlook on life and its often dark sense of humor. While its often funny some of the film's lines about such topics about how we are all "hurtling towards death" will be enough to turn off some people right away.


Best Line: "We're all hurtling towards death, yet here we are for the moment, alive. Each of us knowing we're going to die, each of us secretly believing we won't."

In Short: Synecdoche, New York is one of the most beautiful and unique films of the last decade. While on first viewing it may seem inaccessible, if one gives it a second chance the film proves to be a rewarding and moving film about life and death that is universal.

10 out of 10