Synecdoche, New York - 2008 (R)

Starring:


Year of Release: 2008
Rated: R
Director: Charlie Kaufman
Approx. Running Time: 109 minutes
Format(s): DVD
My Rating: 3 stars (Out of 5)


Trailer:


From Back Cover:

Oscar-winning writer Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK, "one of the best films of the year" (Manohla Dargis, The New York Times), follows the life of regional theater director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) as he struggles with romantic relationships (Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams and Catherine Keener), as well asthe problems of aging, and a mysteriously degenerative medical condition. He develops all this into a monumental theater piece. Building a full-scale replica of New York City inside an impossibly large warehouse and populating it with thousands of actors, Cotard spends the remainder of his life creating a piece so personal and epic in scope, that the line between reality and art collide, and the universe that he has created swallows up everything within it.


My Comments:

Written and directed by Charlie Kaufman (who also wrote Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), this movie is full of Kaufman's trademark weirdness and sadness. Though it is well cast, well acted and beautifully filmed, the movie just feels like it's trying too hard and is lacking something. That something is humor, I just didn't see any there. It's good, but it doesn't touch me in the way that Eternal Sunshine or Malkovich did.


Go Back:

S
Rated R (MPAA)
3 Stars
2008 (Year of Release)
Drama
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