Review and Discussion of Charlie Kaufman’s ‘Synecdoche, New York’
I have to admit, it did take me a while before I actually sat down and watched “Synecdoche, New York”. My reason for putting it off so long was simple: one, and only one of my friends saw it, poo pooed on it for being too confusing and thus, I never forced myself to endure it.
After finally having two hours with which to devote to a “confusing” Charlie Kaufman written and directed film, I sat down today to give it a whirl…and holy crap it blew my mind. I may not be the most eloquent when it comes to finding the meaning behind every aspect of a film but I will say this: no matter what you do understand of the movie, or what you take away from it, it will absolutely make you feel something. I don’t necessarily recommend ‘S,NY’ to everyone but for those of you adventurous enough to give it a try, you won’t be sorry.
“Synecdoche, New York” is Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut. For anyone that is unfamiliar with him by name, he is the writer of “Being John Malkovich”, “Human Nature”, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”, “Adaptation”, and his Oscar winning “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. If you haven’t already noticed, there tends to be a certain type of existentialism that predominates the films he writes. ‘S,NY’ is no different.
‘S,NY’ stars Philip Seymore Hoffman as Caden Cotard, a theater director who, after a successful re-imagining of “Death of a Salesman” is given a MacArthur genius grant for his next theatrical project. He himself is depressed, and is constantly dealing with some health anomaly. His wife (Catherine Keener) is bored of him and secretly wishes he would die so that she could start over… She is an aspiring artist and ends up taking off to Berlin to work on her career. When she leaves, she takes their daughter Olive with her…Needless to say, Caden’s life begins to look very bleak.
It’s at this point that he decides that he wants his next production to be grounded in complete and brutal honesty. He finds a MASSIVE warehouse (we’re talking half a city large) and within it he begins building a production with tons of extras living random snippets of real life. As the years go by and the entire cast begins to age noticeably, the production continues to build until at one point Caden becomes a character in the film himself and the sets becomes full on New York buildings and streets.
I don’t think I could actually describe exactly what everything means but I know what I got out of it: At his lowest point, Caden wanted to produce something that was more honest than real life. After years of working on his production, as the theater piece begins to mimic real life, we begin to realize that instead of living his life, in his attempt to make a ‘real’ production, he has completely seen the rest of his life fly by as he lives within a fictional world.
It’s actually really sad. Hoffman brings it in his portrayal of Caden. I wasn’t expecting that kind of depth from ‘S,NY’. When the credits began rolling I had to think for a second and try to remember at which point I stopped trying to understand the movie and when was it that I was completely enveloped in it. I don’t know when it happened but when the film was over, I wanted so bad for Caden to be able turn back time, shake everything off and start all over again… I wanted him to be able to fix things with his wife, his daughter, Claire (Michelle Williams), Hazel (Samantha Morton), and Sammy (Tom Noonan).
Another bright performance in the film is Dianne Weist. She plays a character named Ellen Bascomb. I think the best way for me to describe her character it to say that Ellen represents Caden’s inner trans gender desire to be a woman. It sounds really random but it explains so much. His wife’s desire to distance herself and his inability to have sex without crying. The way that Ellen essentially becomes a more aggressive, take charge version of Caden was a turning point in the movie for me. I think it was at this point that I allowed myself to get swept away in ‘Synecdoche’.
The bottom line: 4/5. “Synecdoche, New York” is not for everyone. No matter what you take away from this movie, I can pretty much guarantee that you will feel something for Seymore Hoffman’s character when the screen fades to the credits.
Does anyone know how to pronounce Synecdoche? Am I even close with my observations? DId anyone hate it? Leave your comments below or Twitter me @billrusnak
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I watched it for the second time last night. It made much more sense this time. I think there’s a lot to derive from this film, and I definitely agree with what you say. I think there also this feeling of “I wish I was someone else” from Caden, but what the film does it show you that being someone else won’t make you happy. I think they basically explain this point at the end with the pastor gives his speech and then when the woman who plays Ellen at first begins playing Caden and Caden is playing Ellen. This woman is giving Caden is every instruction through an ear phone and explaining that he is not special, that no one is particularly special. We all live our lives with plights, and the unexpected (“fate” if you will), and that happiness is what you make of life.
Also, the pronunciation for Synecdoche is sih-neck-doh-kee.