Synecdoche, New York

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Synecdoche, New York

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Synecdoche, New York

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Catherine Keener, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michelle Williams

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.

Id: 10959090

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Synecdoche, New York Recent Reviews
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    December 11, 2009
    YLOWBSTARDreturns
    You know, I'm all for artistic expression and films out of the ordinary; but "Synecdoche, New York" is one of the most pretentious, overlong and all-around self-indulgent misfires I've seen in a very long time. It's not the least bit subtle; it's actually really heavy-handed, whi...( read more)ch makes the mystery behind what the hell it all means non existent and in my opinion not worth exploring or revisiting for a second or third time.

    This is a major letdown from kauffman. I've liked all of the films he has written, and the directing on display here is very competent. The problem lies within his script this time around. It really isn't up to his usual caliber, and the film (at 2h 3min.) seemed to drag and was, for lack of a better word, UNPLEASANT.
  • ceWEBrity
    November 5, 2009
    ceWEBrity
    Synecdoche, New York is a piping hot load of art-house horse shit, masquerading as a million things but not really giving us any reason to be invested in any of them. At large the movie would seem to present itself as some metatheatrical look into art, life, and creation, through...( read more) the eyes of a Kaufman-esque (played with investment but no real stretching by Philip Seymour Hoffman) and brimming with humor utterly absurd enough to distort the fourth wall. That humor, along with the exaggerated musical cues, and the squarely unimaginative casting of Seymour Hoffman, and some really awful late-game passes at emotional string pulling, would seem to be Kaufman's devices to make the movie accessible to us. Whether that was his intention or not, or even if it was his intention to make them all deliriously bad, the movie is immediately and irreparably dishonest for trying to establish a connection through tried-and-true cliches. The fact that it knows that they are cliches does not change that; it's essentially looking a viewer in the eye and saying with a wink "hey, this is stuff that works on people in ~LESSER MOVIES~, so why shouldn't it work for you here too, heh heh". And maybe that helps some viewers to feel better about themselves, smarter perhaps, but here it looks like a movie's vain struggle to make itself seem unimpeachably intelligent and wholly focused and thoughtful. Far. Fucking. From it.

    And look, we all know that Kaufman plays around with narratives that break the fourth wall and the perceptions of reality and all that shit. We loved it in Being John Malkovich, we loved it in Eternal Sunshine, we loved it in Adaptation. Here I could only wonder what's given him the right to put together this narcissistic fantasia of the three, short of 20 million dollars' worth of masturbatory self-interest. I would never decry an auteur for pursuing his personal interests in the cinematic medium and then releasing it for others to indulge in, but it doesn't mean that I automatically have to enjoy or even appreciate the finished product. This plays like Kaufman's Greatest Hits, a movie self-referential in its self-reference and so on until it spirals out into some horrifying Escher pattern. Any third grader can do that. His only true aim in creating Synecdoche, New York was to encompass as many themes and tones and possible and then shield his condemning lack of focus with the umbrella of metafiction. Even the film's grandest conceit, a life-sized copy of New York inside a theater in New York, reflects this, and yet to what end? By the time Kaufman had exhausted his bag of tricks, I had checked out of this tiresome slog, taking nothing from the film except a newfound disdain for these supposedly "clever" narratives. I'm scared to ever watch Adaptation again.

    Essentially, Synecdoche says "fuck you I do what I want" to its befuddled audience, and in concept I do admire that temerity. If one thing can be said for the film, it's that it is ambitious. Expecting a viewer to accept, ruminate on, and defend every single aspect of a film where not even the film is interested in defending them just smacks of arrogance to me. The movie is stiflingly arrogant and enamored with itself, and for all the emotional payloads and philosophical mumblings about life it may have tried to put forth, I simply couldn't have cared about any of them.
  • gor41
    October 18, 2009
    gor41
    Achingly pretentious exercise in narrative games which requires supreme concentration to follow but does reward perseverance with a desolate performance from Hoffman at its heart.
  • evillincoln
    October 4, 2009
    evillincoln
    I just didn't like it that much, I can't believe I am going to use these words but it was just to arty and depressing.
  • columbiatch
    October 2, 2009
    columbiatch
    First of all, this is one fucking pretentious movie exploring some ideas that were much better executed in Rivette's films in less pretentious and grand fashion. Second, I prefer more immediate and subtle ways to express the profound ideas in life over Kaufman's bombastic, misera...( read more)blist approach which make these big contrived tragic gestures to illustrate the most obvious things like aging and mortality. It would at least make the film more credible if it doesn't vacillate between genuine empathy and self parody. Plus with exception to Hoffman character who's obviously a stand in for Kaufman, none of the characters come across as believable. This is pretty much saying again that the film is very heavyhanded in getting its points across. It doesn't help the aesthetics are totally bland with conventional shot-reverse-shots.
  • rajiv23gooners
    December 20, 2009
    rajiv23gooners
    a lot of people think this is an arrogant movie because they thought this is a personal movie from kaufman and this is all about him, his dreams, his mind, and zero fun, but not for me, for me this film is all about human's life, all about us, everyone, and also has the entertain...( read more)ment aspect with kaufman's typical dark, absurd, and bizzare sense of humor.,

    in my opinion, this is a contemplative movie but not crafted "contemplatively in a traditional way", so maybe that's the problem, people who watched this felt this is a regular movie like others kaufman stuff movie, so it's normal that they expected a great fictional entertainment like his previous writing, not this contemplative movie., and maybe that's also the reason why he direct this himself, because no one could have done like what he did and what he want it to be done.,

    for me, this is the most deep, affecting, insightful, and ambitious film from charlie kaufman, and i believe this is gonna be a classic movie for the future, and charlie kaufman is one of the most important director in this generation..
  • farahghandour
    December 19, 2009
    farahghandour
    I need to see it one more time
  • Lilbrowncat
    December 18, 2009
    Lilbrowncat
    "Knowing that you don't know is the first essential step to knowing, y'know?" Five years in production, another mind-bender from Charlie Kaufman. Philip Seymour Hoffman carries this film as a theater writer/director struggling to come to terms with illness, family, work......you ...( read more)name it, he has a problem with it! He gets a lucrative arts grant and decides to make a play of his life in the purest and most truthful way he can. What follows is an amazing tapestry of scenes that comes together like a hall of mirrors. I doubt if the viewer will absorb everything in one sitting, but thats the thing with Charlie Kaufman fims, it's about the journey more than the destination.
  • drumpappyhq
    December 14, 2009
    drumpappyhq
    I hate being confused and depressed at the same time. That being said "Synecdoche, New York" gets a low rating. Sure I could re-watch it until it (almost) makes sense. Or I could just watch something else...
  • Elinix
    December 13, 2009
    Elinix
    I have no idea have to grade this film, because as brilliant and as funny as it was it got me so incredibly frustrated. I don't think I have ever been as disturbed, or filled with anxiety and existential angst after a film as today. I have been annoyed, scared, sad, even devasted...( read more) after a powerful movie experience but today, for the first time, the dominante feeling was frustration. I never got the balance act of Kaufman's wierd surrealness (which I usually love) where the characters are more of a means to an end, to showcase something spectacular and/or insane, and the rel human connection part, where I'm asked to take the characters and their emotions and struggles seriously.
    All the ingredients for greatness was there, but they never managed to blend together for me. I will however take with me the idea of an ever burning house as one of my favourite "way out there"-concepts that actually were excecuted.
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