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Film Synecdoche, New York

Rate this movie.

  • [img]http://i.bluelight.ru/g//543/1star.gif[/img]

    Votes: 1 6.3%

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    Votes: 1 6.3%

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    Votes: 1 6.3%

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    Votes: 4 25.0%

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    Votes: 9 56.3%
  • Total voters
    16
P

psood0nym

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Synecdoche, New York is Charlie Kaufman's new uroboros-chimera-meta-monster self-inseminating itself in a hall of mirrors film. Reviews have called it an American 8 1/2, and like Fellini's opus it is challenging and demands repeat viewing. Anyone seen it? Let's figure it out.

My "chimera" interpretation one week out from first viewing based on imperfect memory:
NSFW:
The Dec. 9 edition of the Colbert Report had Kaufman talking about Synecdoche, New York. Predictably, Colbert made jokes every time his guest started to say something interesting. There was one thing though. Kaufman said that there was a theater warehouse that was a replica of the warehouse that contained the life sized replica of New York inside it inside the "first and original" warehouse (which I remember), but he said even that replica warehouse contained a life sized replica of New York inside it along with its own replica warehouse, and on and on (which I don't remember).

I guess the movie is temporally and spatially impossible to begin with, even as I remember it, but perhaps the idea that infinite replicas can exist of the same essential thing as part of one person's attempt to understand their own life and suffering is relevant? Philip Seymour Hoffman's character seems to be a male-female chimera (this dual-sex chimera concept is mentioned in the film) in that his life overlaps with Ellen's (as his dying daughter's accusations that he had a sexual relationship with "Eric," Ellen's significant other, attests). Is his play--where infinite projections of his own life exist (as alluded to by Kaufman on Cobert), yet which contains characters with their own independent lives that impact Philip Seymour Hoffman's character's own life--a symbol of constant self-insemination throughout life (an ability of a male-female chimera)?

Is what Kaufman is saying is that human existence is an endless multitude of illusory and contradictory self-projections onto people and the environment made by us in an attempt to make sense of our own being, and that those illusions take on a life of their own we don't control, which are then in turn used by us to define ourselves? Recall that Keener's character says somethin like "It's all just a projection anyways, right? The whole romantic love thing." Eh, maybe it's just me projecting myself into the movie.

The relevance of Hoffman's character as a director rather than something else plays a part in this interpretation, too. Though he directs the action of his play (as a representation of his life) Hoffman's character is also directed by it. He is a synecdoche, a part that represents a whole--yet he is part and parcel of that whole at the same time (in the synedoche employing phrase, "the sails crossed the seas," "sails" represents "ships," yet a ship is defined in part by it's sails. See what I mean?) That kind of encoded self-reflexiveness is definitely Kaufman's style. Kaufman also said on Colbert that there's no right interpretation of the film. That aside, there are interpretations of any art work that make a greater number of the relevant elements of the artwork unify symbolically as a coherent comment or perspective than other interpretations.

I'm going to need to see it again to come to a conclusion about the burning house (perpetual destruction?) and the roles of some of the other characters.


Trailer
 
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i LOVE charlie kaufman. and i LOVE steven colbert, but i admit... that was a terrible interview because i was interested in what kaufman had to say, but colbert DID crack jokes everytime kaufman started saying something interesting. needless to say, colbert (as much as i love him) took all the wind out of kaufman's sails in that interview.

i think this film sounds great in concept though, i'm thrilled to see it and may actually see it in the theater which would only be the 2nd film i'll have seen in the theater in about 3 or 4 years.
 
^I have a lot of respect for Colbert, especially after he told off so many powerful people directly to their faces, including President Bush, at the White House Press Corps Dinner.

The guy is sharp, ballsy and hilarious, but I rarely watch his guests because it's usually pointless. I'd enjoy it more if he restricted his shtick to vacuous screen starlets or something, but there's just no sense in having complex idea people on like Kaufman on if you're always derailing their points or cutting them off short simply for the sake of comedic absurdity (though, of course, on air exposure is valuable in itself.) It's OK to be "off" sometimes, Steven, bless your heart.

Besides 8 1/2, Synecdoche, New York also reminded me, to a lesser degree, of David Lynch's Inland Empire, both in its meta-filmic concept, and, at points, in tone--particularly in the silhouetted window shade scene, which had a really dark and creepy feel to it. I know both directors site Fellini as an influence.
 
i LOVE charlie kaufman. and i LOVE steven colbert, but i admit... that was a terrible interview because i was interested in what kaufman had to say, but colbert DID crack jokes everytime kaufman started saying something interesting. needless to say, colbert (as much as i love him) took all the wind out of kaufman's sails in that interview.
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i think Colbert went easy on him in a very tongue and cheek way "so it makes you think?" Kaufman did better than pretty much most guests I've seen, besides the ones that sing, Tony Hawk, Jane Fonda, and maybe some of the skits with Sean Penn. Interested in catching this on DVD release.
 
Jamshyd said:
Only one review??

I'll probably be seeing this one tonight and I'll update :).
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Well I would love to review it BUT I still have a very limited understanding of what exactly happens in this film.

I was thoroughly enthralled. Though not as immediately accessible or engaging or visceral as Kaufman's previous works there is certainly definate depth and impact. I was engaged throughout the film but also alienated from the characters to a certain degree, unable to trully connect as I often find myself doing with ease in Kaufman's other works (though this may change as I view it a few more times).

I would give it 5 stars for engaging my mind for the length of the film which is a rarity, and certainly there are very few films that make me want to re-watch them almost immediately.

But the emotional detatchment I felt from alot of the film (though I feel it may have been intentional to a degree) detracted from my pure enjoyment of it. So I imagine that at the moment I'd give it a 4/5 and maybe a year down the line, depending on how I feel about it, I could see it becoming a 5/5.
 
ugh...unlike his other movies where I don't mind not understanding his deeper intentions because of the emotional payoff, this one ended up being purely intellectual to me. Or maybe it's that the film was so disjointed that any emotional connection developed in the first arc is lost over the next hour of jumping around in time and space.

I was checking my watch towards the end counting down until it was over.

Maybe after I watch it a few times I'll appreciate it more, but it's going to be hard to motivate myself to do this after not really liking it the first time.
 
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I saw the trailer for this just last week at the cinema. I think it's coming out here pretty soon. I like getting inside Kaufman's head space, it's always a surreal, yet incredibly real experience. I can't wait. :)
 
This has been out on DVD for months now and I'm still the only person to give any kind of interpretation (I have the DVD but haven't watched it yet, so I can't comment further)? Some of you people are certifiable cineastes. Take a chance! There's nothing else out their quite like this one.

ugh...unlike his other movies where I don't mind not understanding his deeper intentions because of the emotional payoff, this one ended up being purely intellectual to me. Or maybe it's that the film was so disjointed that any emotional connection developed in the first arc is lost over the next hour of jumping around in time and space.
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Hmm, my girlfriend and I both commented afterward that we felt a strong emotional engagement during the film, even if we didn't always understand fully why.
 
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This just came out on DVD in Australia.

Wonderful movie. Very realistic, unusual dialogue direction - overlapping incomplete conversations etc. Beautifully surreal Kaufman moments. A nice blend of comedy and drama. Overall Synecdoche is an extremely complex and ambitious film that succeeds in every way. The acting is utterly brilliant and as usual with Kaufman, the characters/ storyline is refreshingly original and twisted. Jennifer Jason Leigh is great in a fairly small supporting role. Hoffman is at his best.

I'm not sure why so many people felt emotionally detached from this film. I thought it was very moving. In fact I cried and I was plagued by scenes for days after watching it. Although it's not as 'entertaining' as some of Kaufman's more comedic endeavours, I think it's one of his best films. Adaptation is probably still my favourite, but Synecdoche now comes a close second.

5 stars
 
The concept is fantastic but as a film, it didnt deliver IMO.
It got me internalising for some reason, or maybe that was the Pinot Noir...
 
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