Stream it now Synecdoche, New York 2008

 

Really weird. You have to be very very focused on the film because every single detail has its meaning. The director must have been stoned when doing this one ahahaha, no just kidding but he must have a revelation or something because neither the best directors could think of this.

What starts off as an interesting premise later devolves into a depressing, pretentious mess. Kaufman has some good ideas going into this one, but next time around, should just to the writer's desk.

I could see how this movie might be a little over-the-top for some people. Even more so, I can see that it might be over the heads of most people. However, for those who love an art flick, this movie isn't just worth watching, its worth studying again and again.

Kaufman puts the viewers mind into overdrive here, almost to the point where it hurts. The stunning cinematography is cram-packed with metaphors, some of which I can't even begin to wrap my head around. As I said, this takes studying.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman doesn't back off the throttle, either. Its bit atypical of a role for him in that his character here is a bit soft spoken (for Hoffman, that is) and not exactly charismatic. But as we watch the character toil to achieve perfection, all of Hoffman's spender shines through in a brilliant portrayal of the mind of a writer.

I'm not sure we will ever figure out just how deep the rabbit hole goes, so to speak, in this one. It would not be entirely inaccurate to call this piece pretentious, but then again, this is a high-society type film that should leave any film school student or art film critic standing in a massive pool of drool.

Charlie Kaufman is one of the most original writers of relationships and human emotions since Woody Allen, and his methods of storytelling are as surreal as any David Lynch film. And with "Synecdoche, New York", Kaufman can place himself among those unique directors with an eccentric brand of masterful storytelling.

Philip Seymour Hoffman stars as Caden Cotard, a theater director facing a mid-life crisis during the opening of his "Death of a Salesman". Following its success, Cotard receives a grant allowing him to make his "masterpiece": a play that examines life and the world as it revolves around himself.

Like Lynch and Allen films, not all may understand or appreciate the work of Kaufman and the worlds he transports us to. His stories can deal anywhere from heartbreak to writer's block, obsession to nueroticism. And "Synecdoche" deals with one director who feels his production is never enough -- that while directing one scene, he has to show how that scene is being made, then where the inspiration for that scene came from, then what inspired that inspiration to come about. Cotard soon rents a hangar and builds a community inside with characters of people he's met in his life.

As he sees it, this is his grandoise production where everyone's a star, and there are no extras. Cotard (or Kaufman) wants to show the grand scheme of things: he wants to show that life's a production; that every person has a story to tell; that there is no such thing as the past or future, only the present; that perfection can be achieved, but never mastered; that people can live life through that one moment of clarity.

Cotard may feel that his play may not be quite ready, but Kaufman has shown us that as a director, he may have just given us his masterpiece.

I love kaufman, but I got lost on this one. the visual metaphors were fun, but it left me wondering what the point was.

Don't even begin to think that I'm calling this a bad movie, it's just very very unorthodox and confusing. When you can't follow a movie, you start to wonder if you're even supposed to understand it. Being Charlie Kaufman, I wonder if it's supposed to just be a 2-hour headtrip.

Philip Seymour Hoffman does great, as always, but it's not his movie. When I say that, I mean he isn't given the opportunity to dominate the movie as he's done so many times before. This is both good and bad. One on hand, it shows that the filmmakers don't completely rely on one performance to pull the movie, but on the other hand it doesn't let him really let loose and make it into the next Owning Mahowny or Capote.

The screenplay is very well written, but Kaufman should leave directing to someone who can make a more cohesive structure out of his confusing stories, like Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry.

Nobody blurs the lines between reality and fiction quite like Kaufman does. With this he somehow manages to pace the progession into a surreal world with such confidence that you hold up your hands and declare him a master. It can drag, be a little frustrating and sad but ultimately leave you with a changed outlook. this is not a film but a work of art.

charlie kaufman sin duda se posicion

There were a couple of scenes I liked, especially the preacher at the funeral, and PSH sure acts the hell out of his part, but for the most part it was a rather unengaging mess. I get the ambition behind it, but almost nothing payed off for me. Too disjointed to create anything worthwhile.

This is one of the most oddly elaborate movies I've ever seen. In the beginning you applaud it for this, but as the film progresses, it slowly falls apart into an almost un-followable story. Depressing as it may be, it still holds no real feeling to the viewer, your left wandering what sort of feelings were suppose to stir within you other than a mild depression. There lacks a moral, other than what we already knew, your decisions shape your life, and we only know that this is the story's meaning because they come clean and say it. And as far as this being listed as a "comedy", its nothing of the sort, its a weird, f*^k3d up drama that only engages the viewer for a short while.