VideoDetective.com
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Released By: Sony Pictures Classics   Rating: R   In Theaters: 10/24/2008
Your video will start shortly...



More Videos:
Preview Details
User Reviews
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Charles Kaufman
Language: English
Official Website: N/A
Theatrical Release: 10/24/2008
Home Video Release: 3/10/2009
Cast: Dianne Wiest, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Emily Watson, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton
Published ID: 728909
UPC: 043396289963, 043396301634,
Plot: Synecdoche, New York marked the directorial debut of iconoclastic, cerebral screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. Philip Seymour Hoffman stars as Caden Cotard, an eccentric playwright who lives with artist Adele Lack (Catherine Keener) and their daughter Olive in Schenectady, upstate New York. Prone to neuroses, misgivings and enormous self-doubt, Caden also begins suffering from accelerated physical deterioration - from blood in his stools to disfigured skin. Upon receiving a prestigious MacArthur grant, Caden decides to use the money to concoct one gigantic play as an analogue of his own life; he builds massive sets amid a New York City warehouse, casts others as his friends, family and acquaintances, and casts others to play the ones he’s casting. After Adele whisks Olive off to Europe but demonstrates no sign of returning soon, Caden drifts into a series of relationships with lovers - first with box office employee Hazel (Samantha Morton), who purchases and moves into a house that is perpetually on fire; then with Tammy (Emily Watson), an actress assigned to play Hazel in the theatrical project; and subsequently with others. Unfortunately, the play itself grows so big and unwieldy - and rehearsals go on for so long, taking literally decades - that it becomes unclear if the production itself will ever launch. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
IDDateTimeTitleReviewHelpfulVotesTotalVotes
Amazing Film, changed the way I watched and felt about movies.
Added 11/12/2009

When I saw this movie in theatres, I didn't appreciate what I was watching. This film is immensely thought provoking and although everyone may not see it the same, if you truly want to be "challenged" by a film, this is one for you. I have watched it at home, and it is brilliant. The original score enhances the feel of this movie as well.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
One of the best movies of all time
Added 11/1/2009

"Synecdoche, New York" is a true artistic masterpiece. It is a very profound work of genius. Thank you so very much, Charlie Kaufman.

0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Almost, almost intolerably heavy-handed.
Added 10/31/2009

From a straightforward approach, it seems to make the mistake of trying to make sense out of chaos by saying that it doesn't make any sense.

Still, I might almost call the film self-loathing, which begs me to consider it more as film criticism than simply just a 'film.' It's almost if the trappings of film are set up as a lab-rat style maze with no solution and 'Humanity' is dropped into the mess and cursed with trying to find a way out.

If I were to go so far as to say the glass is half-full with this film, and I'm not sure that it is, I'd say that it's a pioneer in a whole new genre, which might be aptly termed "The Epic Short." The film seems to have about a ten, perhaps fifteen minute attention span, and nothing seems to internally recall anything beyond it.

It's just that I'm just not sure that actually making this film was a good idea. While any of this may sound great in theory or on paper, the film itself, for me, loses all novelty and the very basic quality of watchability really quickly.

So, yes, I hated it, and I'm pretty sure I was supposed to--but without any of the guilty pleasures of entertainment, I found it lacking hooks.

0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
WHY NOT TITLE IT "SUPPURATION, NY"?
Added 9/26/2009

"Synecdoche," as some people may recall from their freshman high school English classes on poetry, is a figure of speech where a part of something stands for the whole (or vice versa): e.g., "We hired ten hands" (meaning "ten people").

Apparently this confused and confusing film is in some way meant to seem (A) deep and very intellectual and (B) like a metaphor (or figure of speech) for "Life" (with a capital "L").

Also (apparently) its main character is suffering from different shades and degrees of mental illness throughout most of it, so that neither he nor the audience of the film has a clear idea of what is REALLY REAL vs. what is surreal or symptomatic of a disturbed person's perceptions.

Do you recall the "fantasy" scenes of Diane Keaton's character in LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR? Or the drug-trips in YOUNG GUNS? Or the schizophrenic delusions of John Nash in A BEAUTIFUL MIND? Those are crystal clear to us, compared to many of the scenes in this film.

Do you enjoy reading the novels and short stories of Franz Kafka? Or the fiction and drama of Samuel Beckett? At least with them, we can find intelligent and intelligible meaning.

My impression of this film is that it is pretentious, pseudo-intellectual suppuration, whose point could have been made in fifteen minutes or less. Throughout this long, painful film, I was deeply saddened to see so many fine actors wasted.

If I were only allotted seven words for this review, I would have written, THIS EMPEROR IS NOT WEARING ANY CLOTHES.

1 out of 3 people found this helpful.
Nuke a [...]whale for jesus
Added 9/23/2009

[...]

For a film with so distinguished a writer and cast I actually have nothing good to say about this movie and that is a shock even to me. If you want to be a jerk and buy this anyways to defy reason I say go for it. You'll have wasted some money and lost 3 hours of your life you could have used on your death bed to tell your family you love them, and now they will never know.

1 out of 5 people found this helpful.
Amazing Film, changed the way I watched and felt about movies.
Added 11/12/2009

When I saw this movie in theatres, I didn't appreciate what I was watching. This film is immensely thought provoking and although everyone may not see it the same, if you truly want to be "challenged" by a film, this is one for you. I have watched it at home, and it is brilliant. The original score enhances the feel of this movie as well.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
One of the best movies of all time
Added 11/1/2009

"Synecdoche, New York" is a true artistic masterpiece. It is a very profound work of genius. Thank you so very much, Charlie Kaufman.

0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Almost, almost intolerably heavy-handed.
Added 10/31/2009

From a straightforward approach, it seems to make the mistake of trying to make sense out of chaos by saying that it doesn't make any sense.

Still, I might almost call the film self-loathing, which begs me to consider it more as film criticism than simply just a 'film.' It's almost if the trappings of film are set up as a lab-rat style maze with no solution and 'Humanity' is dropped into the mess and cursed with trying to find a way out.

If I were to go so far as to say the glass is half-full with this film, and I'm not sure that it is, I'd say that it's a pioneer in a whole new genre, which might be aptly termed "The Epic Short." The film seems to have about a ten, perhaps fifteen minute attention span, and nothing seems to internally recall anything beyond it.

It's just that I'm just not sure that actually making this film was a good idea. While any of this may sound great in theory or on paper, the film itself, for me, loses all novelty and the very basic quality of watchability really quickly.

So, yes, I hated it, and I'm pretty sure I was supposed to--but without any of the guilty pleasures of entertainment, I found it lacking hooks.

0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Photos
IDImageUrlDescriptionCreditCategoryitem_Id
Shopping
IDPriceImageUrlPurchaseUrlIdTypeBindingStore
Blu-ray
$23.99 @ Amazon
DVD
$19.99 @ Amazon
Video On Demand
$14.99 @ Amazon
Video On Demand
@ Amazon