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Film

Synecdoche, New York

Not everyone adores the sprawling stories-within-stories that identify Charlie Kaufman's screenplays (e.g. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovitch), but it is by now undeniable that he has singlehandedly launched the post-meta movie. In his latest, and his first directorial effort, Kaufman takes this genre to its logical extent. Philip Seymour Hoffman stars as the perfect anti-hero, a bumbling Kaufman stand-in who stumbles into a dreamworld where he stages an intricate play-within-a-play. Synecdoche, New York marks the first time that Kaufman has tackled his existentalist questions with the scope (and lack of snark) that they truly deserve.

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  • Georgia_thumb

    I just saw this yesterday. The film includes some very strong visual metaphors for the problems of storytelling that fascinate Kaufman -- Im thinkng in particular about the metastasizing complex of interior spaces filled with players and problems that perpetually fail to meet Caden Cotard's directorial vision -- but this is oops character limit up!

    By Joel W. on 11/02/2008 at 05:33 pm
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    this should be amazing. love charlie kaufman - so psychologically interesting and emotionally touching, who's with me? think the reviews have been mixed, though.

    By First N. on 11/12/2008 at 01:04 pm
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    This movie dresses up cliches about the meaninglessness of existence, the impossibility of relationships, and the inevitability of death within the hip clothes of indie aesthetics, anti-heroes, and PSH. What starts as a playful take on mortality winds up as self-referential drivel that loses all momentum when the wife leaves and the "play" begins.

    By David H. on 03/13/2009 at 11:33 am
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