Synecdoche, New York

(2008)

Directed by

Charlie Kaufman

Review by Todd Plucknett

Oscar-winner Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut Synecdoche, New York is a mind trip for the ages. Just with that title, people will be confused. Those who understand or think they understand Kaufman will be shook and mind-blown by his new fantastic character study, which blends all genres into one brilliant, beautiful, perplexing, astonishing piece of art. The film will haunt you, frustrate you, and leave you thinking about it for days after the credits roll. That is something that I love in a movie, and this film ranks with the best experiences of that kind I have had.

The film starts off fairly tame for Kaufman’s standards. Caden Cotard (Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a struggling theater director, whose life slowly becomes an absolutely nightmarish mess. He adapts Death of a Salesman with young actors, which becomes a real hit. As a response, he is presented the MacArthur Genius Grant. With this wonderful award, Caden sets his sights on creating his masterpiece. He rents a giant warehouse in New York, where he plans to build a replica of the city and stage his play, which will be a reenactment of certain parts of his quickly deteriorating life. He recently divorced his wife Adele (Catherine Keener), who left for Berlin to pursue her artistic career of painting tiny portraits. She took their daughter Olive (Sadie Goldstein, Robin Weigert), who was growing up with Maria (Jennifer Jason Leigh), one of Adele’s friends. Later, Caden remarries actress Claire (Michelle Williams). He also has a relationship with a coworker named Hazel (Samantha Morton), which is disrupted by Sammy (Tom Noonan), the guy who had been creepily following Caden around for the first part of the movie, who he eventually hires to play him in the play. Tammy (Emily Watson) is the person hired to play Hazel in the play, and Ellen (Oscar-winner Diane Wiest) is a famous actress who plays Caden as well, even though she sort of takes over direction of the play, leaving Caden to watch from the side.

All of those characters play significant roles in the film. Meanwhile, Caden is slowly dying. Every scene brings up something else that is wrong with him. He goes to a psychiatrist (Hope Davis), who gives him almost no help, except for constantly plugging her newest volumes of her books and selling them to him. The time in the film flies by. There are certain conversations between Caden and his shrink that seem to be cut off, which really skews the reality that the audience (and Caden, perhaps) thought they knew. The film jumps far into the future, though it is never revealed how far. The audience and Caden do not know, which is evident in the fact that he did not think that his daughter had aged seven years down the road. The only real element that helps the audience keep track of time (other than a few references throughout the film on side conversations) is the construction of the set. The set becomes bigger and more complex, looking more and more like downtown New York. That and seeing Olive grown up are the only things that put the time jumps into perspective.

The film has so much strange and brilliant events and phenomena to chew on. For one, Hazel lives in a house that is eternally on fire. I have no idea what that means, but I couldn’t get my mind around the fact that Emily Watson played Hazel in the play (who was blind girl Reba in Red Dragon in a similar flaming house, unaware that it was on fire) and Tom Noonan was basically a stalker in this film who falls for Hazel (who was The Tooth Fairy in Manhunter that took Reba to that house). However, I have no idea if that is significant or if I am just pulling something out of nowhere. Also, Caden’s last name is Cotard, which is almost certainly a reference to a syndrome of psychotic depression and delusion. What’s in a name? Well, something apparently. There is one particular line that starts the ascension into Kaufman surrealism, said by Hope Davis. At the moment that line slips by, you know the film is going somewhere else. For the rest of the film after that line is delivered, I was spellbound.

The acting in this film is phenomenal, and it is one of the most amazing ensemble casts of the year. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is fantastic in his crazy, stressed performance, bringing to memory Paul Giamatti and his work in Sideways and in many ways American Splendor. Samantha Morton is terrific in her role, which is the largest of the supporting female parts. Catherine Keener is phenomenal as always. Jennifer Jason Leigh is fine, though her eventual turn to a German accent is unconvincing and awkward. Emily Watson is brilliant, and Diane Wiest brings a very interesting quality to Ellen; she actually looks like Hoffman. Tom Noonan is good and sometimes creepy, which seems to be his specialty. Michelle Williams is also very strong in her supporting role, which is sadly a bit too small. Hope Davis brings some of the gradual laughs in this extremely dark comedy. Charlie Kaufman definitely has directing talent. I could have easily seen Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry take on this film’s bizarreness, but perhaps it wouldn’t have been as alive and polished if Kaufman wasn’t fully in charge. It is very beautifully shot, and the passion that Kaufman has for the material is unquestioned.

People who have become familiar with Kaufman’s work may become frustrated that they cannot crack this film. Maybe it is not meant to be cracked, necessarily. There is a lot of Adaptation in this, as well as some Woody Allen and David Lynch. It is not anywhere near as incomprehensible as Inland Empire. It is actually somewhere between that and Mulholland Dr. It is something that Kaufman had not explored before. He likes to play with the audience, but he never baffled them as much as he did here. The final scenes are brilliant in such a dreamlike way, and it just reinforces the blurring of reality that Caden had evidently been feeling throughout the decades portrayed in the film. After the movie, I hadn’t the slightest clue what had happened, but I sat there with a smile on my face. There was so much bruising humor and artistic beauty that I couldn’t help but love the film. I knew that I was going to be discussing it and thinking about it for days, and I had no problem with it. That style is one that I have become very fond of, and this is a fantastic addition to it. I realize that many people will hate this movie, calling it smug, pretentious, depressing, and/or indulgent. I did not get this feeling at all. It is a challenging experience, and it is one that many will need to have twice. I can’t wait to see it again to take another shot at this elaborate puzzle and enjoy one of the best films of the year a second time.

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