| Synecdoche New York | |
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The film tells the story of talented but unexceptional playwright Caden Cotard whose life is turned upside-down by two events: the departure of his beloved wife Adele who has left him to pursue her painting career in Berlin, and he is awarded a genius grant which spurs him into starting an ambitious production in a warehouse in New York for which everyone will remember him. As he progresses with his life, he becomes increasingly dysfunctional. Times whizzes by, people come and go, and the play takes on unheard-of proportions as it becomes a complete re-production of his own life that continues even as he is increasingly failing to do so. As a summary, this excludes several major characters and events that provide a depth and richness to the story that is as impossible to be captured in a short review as Caden's life was to be recreated in New York warehouse. Suffice to say that this film is a magnus opus about the nature, and dangers, of artistic endeavour. It is a frighteningly clever film, but very difficult to engage with. Unlike Eternal Sunshine or Malkovich, Synecdoche New York requires constant thought to keep up with the ideas that are extrapolated and exhibited. Part of the problem may well be that Kaufman directed the film himself. (Spike Jonze was originally set to do the job, but pulled out to work on Where The Wild Things Are.) In the absence of his most successful collaborative partners - Jonze and Michel Gondry - the moments of surrealism Kaufman inserts lose their accessibility, they become just another intriguing intellectualism. Jonze and Gondry had uncanny (and almost unrivaled) talents at taking these moments and absorbing them into the fabric of the tale, creating a world that we are immersed in rather than attempting to assess from our seats in the cinema: an exceptional skill that Kaufman could not quite conjure in his directorial debut. That said, the actors did an amazing job of bringing the story to life. Philp Seymour Hoffman is outstanding as the unstable theatre director, and a host of talented actors from Catherine Keener to Emily Watson support him with incredible skill. Among the best of the supporting cast is Tom Noonan, whose turn as Cotard's mysterious stalker who will eventually feature prominently in his play (giving any more detail would give too much away) is brilliant in its depiction of extreme obsession. It is possible to take a huge amount from this film. The insights into creativity, the debate on obsession, the commentary on lost loves and the pursuit of truth are all examined with almost unbelievable intensity by Kaufman. But it is a real thinkers film, and some of the lighter, or at least more surreal, moments fail to gel in a way that genuinely provides a comfortable analogy or extension of the abstract world being created by Kaufman (and his own creation, Cotard). Furthermore, by the end there are a few small signs that Kaufman may have become tangled in his own ideas just a little too deeply. But for all of its confusions, difficulties and challenges, Synecdoche New York is a unique and exceptional piece of cinema. It is possibly the most ambitious attempt to utilise the 'film within a film' concept since the legendary Jacques Rivette produced Celine and Julie Go Boating, and therefore must be seen to be believed. Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Tom Noonan, Sadie Goldstein, Emily Watson Directed by: Charlie Kaufman Run time: 124 mins Release Date: May 15th Certificate: 15 Rating: **** Review by Michael Edwards |
Charlie Kaufman is one of the cleverest writers working today. In films such as The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich he's managed to combine the brutal realities of life with the surreal essence of our experiences of them. In his latest film, Synecdoche New York, he really goes to extremes.
