REVIEW: Synecdoche, New York

Synecdoche, New York (dir. Charlie Kaufman, 2008) *****

reviewed by David Sugarman

The critically celebrated, Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, previously known for penning such startlingly original, surreal movies as Being John Malkovich, Adaptation. and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has made his directorial debut with what is simply the saddest film I have ever seen. Synecdoche, New York stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as theatre director Caden Cotard, a man plagued by the frailty of his body and his own emotional failings, attempting to do something worthwhile with his life. Receiving a MacArthur Genius Grant (which apparently do exist, though not to the same extent as Caden puts his), Caden decides to put on a new play, one which leads him to oversee the building of a scale-model of New York in a warehouse.

Kaufman’s film is both very funny and emotionally devastating. Hoffman is always fantastic, and has won an Oscar in the past, but that performance can surely have been no greater than his showing here as the tortured Caden. The supporting cast, which includes Samantha Morton, Catherine Keener and Michelle Williams as the major women in Caden’s life is outstanding all-round. Though the situation is possibly even weirder than the premise of Malkovich, and more meta than Adaptation., it is also even more moving than Eternal Sunshine. As Caden’s life slowly progresses (revealed through subtle alterations of costume and make-up, until you realise that 20 years have passed), bits and pieces of his life fall away, until… well. This film brought me closer to tears than any other in years. Which I applaud.

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Synecdoche, New York is on at the Warwick Student Cinema on this Sunday, at 18:30 and 21:30. Please go and see it. It’ll make me happy if you do. This review contains no mention of two other Kaufman-scripted films: Human Nature, which was directed by Michel Gondry, and is not without its moments of genius but is largely underwhelming, and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, directed by George Clooney. Which I haven’t yet seen.

David

edit: word has just reached me that Fox have cancelled Joss Whedon’s latest TV show, Dollhouse. While it wasn’t always consistent, Dollhouse was a very intelligent and entertaining show, and I’m sorry to see it go. Happily, however, it will be allowed to run for the remainder of its second season so Whedon can give it a decent ending, something that his previous Fox cancelletion (the vastly superior Firefly, possibly the best TV show I’ve ever seen) was denied.