FILM CHALLENGE: 62) Synecdoche, New York

62) Synecdoche, New York

Director: Charlie Kaufman

Year: 2008

Plot Summary: A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.

"Even though the world goes on for eons and eons, you are only here for a fraction of a fraction of a second. Most of your time is spent being dead or not yet born. But while alive, you wait in vain, wasting years, for a phone call or a letter or a look from someone or something to make it all right."

This is a quote taken from the minister at the staged funeral in Synecdoche, New York and is, to me, the piece of dialogue that really sums up Kaufman's directing debut. This film is about life. Despite its surreal style and its endless use of symbolism, motif and metaphor, this is a film about the way we choose to live our lives and what, at the end of the day as we approach death, we have done with our time on Earth.

In Synecdoche, New York, Caden - played by the always brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman who churns out one of this decade's most underrated performances here - has spent half of his life as a theatre director retelling the work of other people. He's just another body on the planet who has yet to do anything that anyone will remember after he has gone. However, when he receives a grant from the MacArthur foundation, he decides that, in fear that he will die, it's time to create something amazing that will last though the ages. Isn't this what, in our own way, we all want to do? To make our impact on the world before we die? Whether it's by creating something, by helping people, by saving people? Therefore, Caden Cotard's plight is very powerful and one that moved me beyond what any words could ever describe.

But Kaufman doesn't just simply present the need to make something that will live on forever. His ambition and scope far exceeds that. He also attempts to show the way that love effects our lives. Over the film's 40 year timeline, Cotard remains in love with the same woman: Hazel, his box office girl during the production of Death Of A Salesman and his secretary after he receives the grant. His relationship with her is one that is extremely moving and is one that we can all relate to as we each have that one person who will stay in our memory for as long as we live. Moreover, his ex-wife, Adele and his first daughter Olive, who he loved and lost haunt him throughout Synecdoche, New York and how he constantly strives to return to that happiness he once had with them and how despite having other lovers and children they are irreplaceable is utterly heartbreaking.

The character of Caden is one that I see a lot of myself in. Therefore, even the little, almost insignificant parts of how he develops over the two hour running length have me glued to the screen with tears in my eyes. But even the characters of Hazel, Adele and Claire are ones that resemble people in life. How Kaufman has been able to do this astounds me.

So this should mean I love the movie, right? That I'm going to go on and call it a masterpiece and urge you all to watch it? Well, part of me does. But there's also a part of me that gets infuriated by this movie, mostly because the aforementioned points are frequently overshadowed by pompousness and pretentiousness.

As you will know from reading this blog, I do love some strange movies. But, unlike the likes of Lynch and Herzog, whose films are strange in a way that never overshadows the narrative and somehow even complements to story, Synecdoche very often feels like it's trying to be weird. The scenes with the psychiatrist and her self-help book, for example, seem to add very little to the story beyond the fact that they are confusing, the character of Sammy, as important as he is to the story, is so ridiculous that it dampens the entire narrative, and there a moments involving Caden's grown up daughter that leave me angry they are so baffling.

Okay, sure, some of the obscure moments are captivating - I particularly love to pay attention to how the dates and times very often change within a scene to give that sense of hurtling towards death without doing anything important - and very occasionally the symbolism and motifs provide interesting thought and are worthy of debate whether it's Hazel's burning house that seems to evoke a contrast between her adventurous, careless approach to life and Caden's constant fear of death or the scenes towards the end when the real New York seems to be approaching the apocalypse of some sorts. But, overall, it does feel like Kaufman is a little too self-involved.

Nevertheless, this is an achingly sad and deeply affecting piece of cinema and one that is quite clearly very personal to Charlie Kaufman and, despite its faults, there has rarely been a movie as ambitious as this one. You'll want to see this over and over again.

4/5

By Daniel Sarath with 4 comments