Synecdoche, New York:
Synecdoche, New York is a film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, in his directorial debut. It premiered in competition Friday, May 23, 2008 at the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival,[2] and had a limited release on October 24, 2008.
The title is a play on Schenectady, New York, where some of the story takes place, with synecdoche, which reflects a trope of the film.[3] The title also refers to the fact that the main character builds a replica of New York City in a warehouse for his play.
Theater director Caden Cotard is mounting a new play. After producing a version of Death of a Salesman in which he casts young actors in the roles of Willy and Linda, he receives a MacArthur genius grant. He is determined to use the money to create a piece of brutal realism and honesty, something into which he can put his whole self, and so he gathers an ensemble cast into an impossibly huge warehouse in Manhattan's theater district. He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a small mockup of the city outside. As the city inside the warehouse grows, Caden's own life veers wildly off the tracks. The shadow of his ex-wife Adele, a celebrated painter who left him years ago for Germany's art scene, sneers at him from every corner. Somewhere in Berlin, his daughter Olive is growing up under the questionable guidance of Adele's friend, Maria. He's helplessly driving his marriage to actress Claire into the ground. Sammy Barnathan, the actor Caden has hired to play himself within the play, is a bit too perfect for the part, and is making it difficult for Caden to revive his relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel. Meanwhile, his therapist, Madeline Gravis, is better at plugging her best-seller than she is at counseling him. And a mysterious condition is systematically shutting down each of his autonomic functions, one by one.
As the years rapidly pass, Caden buries himself deeper into his masterpiece. Populating the cast and crew with doppelgangers, he steadily blurs the line between the world of the play and that of his own deteriorating reality. As he pushes the limits of his relationships, both personally and professionally, Caden finds change by bringing an actress in to take over his role as director while Caden decides to play the role of himself within the elaborate reality he's constructed. He lives out his days under the replacement director's instruction.
[edit] Details
The film was originally set to be directed by Spike Jonze who instead chose to direct Where the Wild Things Are.[4]
The movie has been described by Kaufman as being "creepy" but not a traditional horror movie.[5]
[edit] Reviews
Synecdoche, New York received generally favorable reviews, maintaining a 67/100 score at MetaCritic and a 67% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics" page.[6][7] In his review of the movie, Roger Ebert called Synecdoche a "great film."[8]
- Hamptons International Film Festival 2008 Selection [1]
[edit] External links
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