Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Director:

Charlie Kaufman

Writer (WGA):

Charlie Kaufman (written by)

Release Date:

5 February 2009 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Play | Theater | Warehouse | Director | Actress

Awards:

5 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Philip Seymour Hoffman	...	Caden Cotard
Catherine Keener	...	Adele Lack
Sadie Goldstein	...	Olive (4 years old)
Tom Noonan	...	Sammy Barnathan
Peter Friedman	...	Emergency Room Doctor
Charles Techman	...	Like Clockwork Patient
Josh Pais	...	Dr. Eisenberg (Opthamologist)
Daniel London	...	Tom
Robert Seay	...	David
Michelle Williams	...	Claire Keen
Stephen Adly Guirgis	...	Davis
Samantha Morton	...	Hazel
Hope Davis	...	Madeleine Gravis
Frank Girardeau	...	Plumber
Jennifer Jason Leigh	...	Maria

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some sexual content/nudity.

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:M | Czech Republic:15 | Norway:11 | Sweden:Btl | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | UK:15 | Finland:K-11 | Ireland:15A | Singapore:M18 | Portugal:M/16 | Mexico:B15 | Japan:PG12 | Hong Kong:IIB

Filming Locations:

Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Likely Story

Trivia:

The film was originally set to be directed by Spike Jonze, who chose to direct _Where the Wild Things Are (2009)_ instead.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In both instances where Caden is posting presents to Germany for Olive, the packages would never arrive - for one because there is no 'Kampfstrasse' in Berlin (though this would literally mean 'Fight Street', most likely a poetic choice made by the filmmakers), but also because the postal code he has written, D-1805, doesn't exist anywhere in Germany. German postal codes are all 5 digits in length, and the ones allocated to Berlin range from 10001 to 14199.

Quotes:

Caden Cotard: I don't think you should tell her she doesn't have blood...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Watchmen/Shuttle/12 (#1.2)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Auld Lang Syne

visionary, personal, deeply affecting

One of the movies Synecdoche brought to mind for me was Bunuel's "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" in which two different actresses play the same character with no explanation of any sort offered within the narrative.

It's always refreshing to me to see events in movies occur without the writer/director/actors seeming to feel any need to "explain it" to the viewer. As with (m)any other filmmakers who are genuinely engaged with film as a unique art form, it seems quite clear to me at least that Kaufman requires the spectator to meet him on his own wavelength.

This is what a significant portion of artists in any medium do: they take the constraints, conventions, and materials of their chosen form very seriously and explore their own perceptions, ideas, and emotions plying the tools of their medium on their own personal terms.

At the opposite end of this artistic spectrum is the sort of pandering manipulation of a Spielberg or the painter Thomas Kincaid. Their works are only "personal" in the sense that what is most prominently on display in their work is their own desperate personal need to have their intended message "understood" (and even experienced) by all spectators in exactly the same way, so that "the artist" can in turn feel his own personal worth has been validated by public and critical responses - "Hah, I must be a great artist, because I succeeded in making you think and feel the exact thing I wanted you to!"

I'll grant that this "spectrum" is a very broad one, and I won't discount the work of anyone along it, but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy things I see as technically accomplished hackwork. I don't, and never will.

I'll take an artist who refuses to telegraph his "statement" to me any day. I prefer works that wash over me, entrance me, and lead me down paths to new or long-buried thoughts and feelings.

I feel GREAT after having seen Synecdoche this evening. I laughed, I cried, and I see the world just a little differently now. I feel like a group of people I have never met (Kaufman and the others involved in making this wonderful movie) shared something with me that was very important to them. I wish I could thank them, because I think it takes a great deal of courage to share with others things that are so personally important in such an honest, unapologetic way.

I think it also takes a lot of courage for investors to throw millions of dollars at such a personal vision. It gives me hope for humanity that such a thing is possible.

The Day the Earth Stood Still gave me a tiny little glimmer of this sort of hope last weekend. But that movie was like a vending machine bag of chips compared to the full-course-meal of Synecdoche New York.