Synecdoche, New York

A movie stranger than it’s name

Writer Charlie Kaufman has earned himself quite a career over the last decade. For writing such quirky and odd stories, like his first hit Being John Malkovich, he’s been pretty successful. Considering his last project, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, you would expect a lot out of his latest project Synecdoche, New York.

When you see the title written out, you can’t help but wonder, ‘How in the world do you pronounce that?’ It’s pronounced sin-neck-dough-key and it’s taken from a child mispronouncing the name of the city Schenectady, pronounced ske-neck-tuh-dee.

Synecdoche stars Phillip Seymour Hoffman as theatre director Caden Cotard. When his wife and daughter leave him and move to Europe, Caden hits his midlife crisis in the hardest way. Even though he’s just won a huge grant that will allow him to create his theatrical masterpiece, everything falls apart.

Caden’s depressingly lonely life causes him to lose his grasp on time and reality. It doesn’t take long for his current life and play to blend together so much that you don’t know what’s real and what his actors are doing. Because the sound stage where his rehearsals are held contain a life-size set of Schenectady, you can really see where it might get confusing.

While the idea behind Synecdoche, New York is a brilliant one with lots of potential, the story never really goes anywhere but down in it’s melodramatic mumblings. Nothing is defined or refined. A big event will happen that strikes such a change in Caden that he decides to change the way things are done, yet the next scene plays as if it never happened.

Kaufman decided to take the director’s chair for Synecdoche, something he’d never done before. In my opinion, had he not done it himself, it would have been a much better film.

Throughout the flaws and constant drabble of Synecdoche are potently aesthetic moments. The heart of this film is beating, just not in a healthy rhythm. Many moments are extremely moving and completely unforgettable; but the stuff in between those scenes is the absolute opposite.

Synecdoche, New York is a love it or hate it film. I know that some Kaufman fans will fall head over heels for it, but most will be disappointed.

Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classics