Synecdoche, New York Pre-Realization Discussion

My feelings from the Post-Release Thread:

"Fascinating and amazing movie that I have a feeling I won't fully understand for a long time. But I know I love it and that's enough for me for now."

We appear to be in a similar boat Justin.

Ha... I'm glad I'm not the only one!

I've been compelled to watch this film countless times, I got the soundtrack just to have a cliff's notes version of those feelings the film gives me. I absolutely love it and have to experience it on a semi-regular basis. Basically, this film makes me feel like Howard Hughes repeating sentences over and over again for no apparent reason.

I understand the things about the movie I love but for the life of me I would never be able to fully explain the film as a whole. I'll just end this with how I try to convince people to see it:

Its so... the characters are just... really the movie... Just watch it, it's amazing.

It's on Netflix Watch It Now, in case you don't own it and need to see it again and again and again like I do.

This movie is an Everything Forever.

My favorite movie from last year, and the best movie I've seen in some time. I think about it and get excited and I want to watch it immediately. I'm dying to buy the Blu-Ray but it's so fucking expensive. Hopefully for Christmas.

I don't think it's necessarily to really "understand" every aspect of the movie, but one of the great things about the film is that it always leaves you with something to think about every time you watch it. I mean, on a basic level its very straightforward. A playwright gets obsessed with creating his ultimate vision, his life in theatrical form. That's it. Of course, that's not really "it" but when people tell me they don't understand it...I'm not really sure what to say.

By showing how preposterously difficult it is to represent life via art, Kaufman gets to make keen observations on both life and art. So when things happen in the film or "don't make sense," you'd think that someone would just naturally remind themselves that they're watching a movie, and that any attempt at it imitating reality is immediately suspect.

That's not to say it should excuse its eccentricities. And I certainly don't understand why everyone ages so quickly, for example (my only theory is that the story is the main characters life work, and we're seeing his progress develop slowly while his life ages rapidly...and when he's dead, so his is art, a hollow shell inside a hollow shell inside a etc). I'm probably wrong about that. But who cares? When a movie can leave you thinking this much every time you see it and entertain you (and I can't believe anyone who doesn't find it entertaining) what more could you ask for?

Unless, of course, you really hate movies that make you think.

What the hell did I just watch?! Phenomenal film but goddammit, not the best choice of Christmas eve entertainment.

I'm scared to open my mouth about this film because while I think I get it, while I think I can relate to what I believe Kaufman is saying, it all seems so daunting that I'm not entirely confident that I can articulate my views without fucking it up or just being completely wrong. I really love this film, it's devastating with a precision so fine that it recalls one of Adele Lack's micro paintings.

It's supposed to be like that, though. Kaufman has said he views film as a "dead medium" and purposefully makes his films as dense as possible so each viewing is a new experience for the viewer. His aim is for the films to be the fodder for discussion. In fact, his hope for each film is that the film serves as a kind of conversation between himself and every member of his audience. Keeping your thoughts to yourself kind of defeats the entire purpose of his enterprise. To borrow a phrase from Bradbury, you ought to parade your ignorance.

The AV Club wrote about this in the New Cult Cannon. Really good entry into their typically great series. Some of the best thoughts on the film I've read.

Check it out.

Saw this a few days ago. Struck me as one of those movies that's so singular that your usual this-is-good/this-is-bad judgments don't really apply and all you can do is experience it and react to it. Felt a definite kinship with David Lynch going on here, and as with Inland Empire I have to respect it as a sprawling, untamed outpouring of unique creativity, even if it's not necessarily his best or most likeable movie. For its flaws I always enjoyed Science of Sleep as a slice of pure, unflitered Gondry, and similarly I appreciate this as pure unfiltered Kaufman. I did watch it in a miserable fucking mood, which has to be the worst state to watch this movie in. Or maybe the best?

It confirmed one thing I've suspected about Kaufman ever since I read some of his scripts (before Jonze/Gondry put their stamp on things), which is that while he's the master of articulating angst and psychological torment, there's this tendency for his intellectualism and dark humour to make it seem like he's making cruel jokes at his characters' expense. Part of me would've liked to see what Jonze would've done with it - would've made a nice trilogy capper with their other two, and I get the feeling he might've wrestled it out of Kaufman's relentless bleak introversion and maybe done something slightly more direct with the concept.

But as it is, it's unique and pretty fascinating. It's kind of an impressionistic movie - the stuff that's hinted at and implied is as important as the nuts and bolts of the plot, and the overall effect is quite powerful even if you couldn't specifically say what was going on the whole time. I already feel ready for a second watch.

I only saw this film once as a DVD rental. Out of the films I've seen in the past few years, this has stayed with me. It may be my love of quiet surrealism -- I'm a big fan of Murakami, for example -- but whatever the case this film is really special to me. So painful, and yet the surreal world of the film just clicks with me.

The key difference is that Kaufman really knows how to write a scene so that, moment by moment, SYNECHDOCHE is easier to watch.

I think Kaufman is a little more sincere than that. I mean, this ain't no BURN AFTER READING. But I do see what you mean. Reading the ADAPTATION script made me realize how big of a joke the third-act is on the audience and writer characters.

The one that got me was his original ending to Eternal Sunshine, where we cut ahead to years later and see them as old people having their memories wiped of each other for the twentieth time. Kind of funny, and appropriate in a way, but it does kind of come across as a cruel, sneery gag at those characters' expense. Thing is Kaufman's definitely sincere, I just think sometimes it's for the best if he's paired up with someone to soften his bitter streak a bit.

I'd argue that Lynch's better grasp of pace and tension lead to quite the reverse effect.

I've seen this only once but the impression I got was that it was all about not wasting your life on hollow pursuits. I am probably wrong though. Will watch it again later....

Just saw this for the second time today, after owning it for nearly a year. It's still fucking great, and I hope that I have the opportunity to see it in a theatre again at some point. This time, it seemed to me that the film was a reflection on Caden's part, and events from the viewer's future are stamped on events from the viewer's present (hence the fire when Hazel is buying the house). The end is built into the beginning, as it were.

it's an astonishing look at the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and upon this viewing this theme leapt out at me. When relationships end, the people who were in one begin to tell themselves the same stories of that relationship to themselves over and over again, trying to understand. But, as with all stories, you can read whatever the hell you want into them. Either she was too cold that one time, or you were too ambivalent. You end up losing sight of the past (in the context of the film, you end up losing sight of your life itself), and your past becomes more and more subjective as you continue to mount stories within stories. It ends up that the subjective past is the past that is painful and unlivable, while the reality was probably better than you could have hoped. Of course, Caden is too wrapped up in himself to really hold on to a real present, so he keeps on creating different facsimiles of the same one.

Charlie Kaufman's introduction to the published shooting script online.

He's like a Philip K. Dick who can actually write.

Well, I thought The Man in the High Castle was quite well-written, for what it's worth. Been a long time, though.

Actually haven't read that one, but the Dicks that I've read* always had better ideas than writing.


*teehee

Saw this over the weekend for the first time. I'm a big fan of Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine are brilliant), and although I enjoyed this and respect it, it's probably the least of his films. The novelty of a living play in a warehouse would have been enough to set this film apart, but add onto that the burning house, the Apocalyptic New York, Sammy following Caden for years without explanation (and Caden accepting that), and the bizarre psychiatrist...

 

The 8 1/2 comparisons are apt, and the entire film may very well be Caden's fractured psyche (as Randlett states above) in retrospect piecing his life back together. Still, there needed to be a grounding element to bottle all that weirdness: for instance, the office space in Being John Malkovich is where the film diverges into surreal, and Joel's fading memories in Eternal Sunshine are contrasted with what's happening in the real world (Dunst and Ruffalo hijinx). The warehouse could have grounded this story, but the weirdness dominates every aspect of Caden's life!

 

Overwhelming is the word here. I'd definitely watch it again, but the problem is there's at least three high concepts here deserving of their own film that get crammed in together.

 

Little nitpick as well: why is Caden deserving of the MacArthur genius grant? All we see is him directing an off-Broadway Death of a Salesman with a slight twist. His first wife is a world famous painter, but more explanation of Caden's fame and/or accomplishments was necessary. Unless it was all a delusion, Caden secretly believing himself a genius worthy of acclaim, and that certainly is when the film shifts into overdrive...