Property of charlie kaufman and sony motion picture classics i own no rights to this clip, movie or likeness of actors or depictions in this clip, this is a short fan clip of my favorite scenes. It may not be the best film of the year, but it is very likely to be. Synecdoche, new york, 2008 top 10 movies of the millennium. If you like synecdoche, new york you are looking for surreal, psychological and twists and turns movies about with existentialism, depression, obsession, actor, director, writers life and theater themes of comedy and drama genre shot in usa. If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller. Oscars best picture winners best picture winners golden globes emmys san diego comiccon new york comiccon sundance film festival toronto intl film festival awards central festival central all events. The film premiered in competition at the 61st annual cannes film festival on may 23, 2008. Clearly, there is a lot to think about in synecdoche, new york, and the film surely raises plenty of important questions. Synecdoche, new york is a firecracker display that sets the audience up for a grand epic of adventures then sputters its lovable way through over two hours of loosely connected views of life as we live it through the eyes of an increasingly physically disabled director caden cotard philip seymour hoffman. Then again, when you consider that he made a movie with a name few can pronounce built on a plot that no. Synecdoche, new york is a philosophical epic, the portrait of one life furnished in emotional poverty. The more we talk about this stuff, the more we tell the truth about what grief is really like, the more people realize theyre not. Synecdoche, new york is a 2008 film about an ailing theatre director, caden. Starring philip seymour hoffman, samantha morton, michelle williams, catherine keener, emily watson, dianne wiest, jennifer jason leigh, hopedavis, and tom noonan, and directed by kaufman,synecdoche, new york is an epic story of grand artistic ambitionsand creative madness.
See more lists like the recommendations for synecdoche, new york. To ask other readers questions about synecdoche, new york, please sign up. Let me explain that i have been a huge charlie kaufman fan for three years now which is nothing considering he came out with being john malkovich in 1999. The first time i watched synecdoche, new york was when it first came out on dvd and i had a really difficult time getting through it. Theres actually this one interview i did for synecdoche, new york where i got really mad. The ultimate postmodern novel is a film books the guardian.
It is also home to troubled playwright caden cotard the always excellent philip seymour hoffman, hero of synecdoche, new york, the fascinating directorial debut of charlie kaufman, author of. Synecdoche is an exercise in semiotic theory, with a script that relentlessly prods the link between language and truth, representation and reality. But this entire sequence is shot to look like everything is happening on the same morning. In charlie kaufmans synecdoche, new york, its hard to know what it is. The film examines solipsism at its worst, demonstrating the dangers of such a philosophy through its chosen vehicle. I grew up in love with apocalyptic books and films, most importantly stephen kings the. Whether it actually is or not, synecdoche, new york has the feel of a very, very personal work of art. Synecdoche, new york pronounced is a 2008 american postmodern drama film written and directed by charlie kaufman and starring philip seymour hoffman. I added it to my collection because it looked like an unusual film and it starred one of my favorite actors, philip seymour hoffman. Synecdoche is a japanese manga creator best known for the series plussized elf. Some great fiction, like ulysses or the sound and the fury or the golden bowl, was hypertext when. Charlie kaufmans synecdoche, new york is a film that boldly tries to illustrate this universal process by using a director immersed in a production of indefinite. I know next to nothing about writerdirector charlie kaufmans personal life, and dont even necessarily feel like i do now.
I realize this is contradictory to reading true crime, but. His newest film, synecdoche, new york, is also his first as director. Certain he is dying, he tells his therapist, id like to do something. The magnificent sets, which stack independent rooms on top of one another, are the compartments we assign to our lifes enterprises. The film is rather long, has an of intensely layered and complicated plot, a stunning visual complexity and requires the viewers full attention. Charlie kaufman on synecdoche, new york and why schenectady, new york would have been a stupid title by brent simon charlie kaufman is the rarest of hollywood commodities a brand. The most ambitious of charlie kaufmans movies by a long shot, it is also the bleakest.
Synecdoche, new york is not a film about the theater, although it looks like one. A terrific debut novel that makes gravitys rainbow read like a dr. Similar movies like synecdoche, new york tastedive. Charlie kaufman explains depressing reason he hasnt.
Now that i am starting to have free time again, i am looking for some new books to read i am open to reading just about anything, but my favorite genres are horror, mystery and true crime. You know what things i like on adult swim at night. The production design is impressive, the visual effects are subtle, the direction is very solid. Synecdoche, new york 2008 parents guide add to guide. Dreamer, live in the here and now the new york times. Churchill, the hours by michael cunningham, the way of all flesh by samuel butler, a man for. He grew up in massapequa, new york, before moving to west hartford, connecticut, where he graduated from high school. Charlie kaufman, the director of synecdoche, new york, is not trying. Nov 22, 2019 after writing celebrated screenplays of narrative trickery like adaptation and eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, and directing fullon descents into madness like synecdoche, new york and. Book an appointment for a wide range of crotchets, wigs and wig coloring.
From charlie kaufman, perhaps the most distinctive screenwritingvoice of our generation, comes a visual and philosophicadventure of epic proportions. Similar films to watch if you like synecdoche, new york. Kaufman was born in new york city to a jewish family on november 19, 1958, the son of helen and myron kaufman. Synecdoche, new york was originally conceived by charlie kaufmann and spike jonze as their idea of a horror film, albeit with realistic horrors like old age, disease, estrangement from ones parents and children. Albany the capital of new york state just passed a law addressing this problem. An excellent cast brings kaufmans surreal storytelling to. Theater director caden cotard philip seymour hoffman is mounting a new play. A theater director is an ideal character for representing the role kaufman thinks we all play. Nov 07, 2008 synecdoche, new york is a huge film about puny sentiments, an antiheroic epic of failure, remorse, alienation, and selfpity. As is often the case in kaufmans films, caden is a hard protagonist to like. Starring, philip seymour hoffman, samantha morton, michelle williams and catherine keener. Like the famous mandelbrot fractal, where each nested selfsimilar image holds new secrets and unique characteristics, the successively nested repetitions of cadens play advance the plot by their departures from what has come before as when cadens second wife, playing herself, leaves both him and her stage husband on a set made to. To say that charlie kaufmans synecdoche, new york is one of the best films of the year is such a pathetic response to its soaring ambition that.
Sign up to receive information about new books, author events, and special offers. What books, movies, music, anything, really, will i like. The films title is a play on schenectady, new york, where much of the film is set, and the concept of synecdoche, wherein a part of something represents the whole, or vice versa. Jun 21, 2011 synecdoche new york has been called, by sigh and sounds edward lawrenson, far bleaker and more uncompromising than any of kaufmans previous efforts, and for good reason. Synecdoche, new york could be seen as his lifesummation of what concerns him as a writer. A synecdoche is a figure of speech used when a part of something is used to refer to its whole, or vice versa.
If you are looking for movies like synecdoche, new york these could be interesting candidates. What books, movies, music, anything, really, will i like if i like synecdoche, new york and anomilisa by charlie kaufman. Oct 24, 2008 to say that charlie kaufmans synecdoche, new york is one of the best films of the year is such a pathetic response to its soaring ambition that i might as well pack it in right now. So we might conclude that this is the clearest look yet into kaufmans mind although clear could be a. His wife and daughter have left him, his therapist is more interested in plugging her new book than helping. This book sounds a bit like cloud atlas, or maybe dorothy lessings martha quest series. After beginning my first viewing in confusion, i began to glimpse its purpose and by the end was eager to see it again, then once again, and i am not finished. It is perhaps times like these that one reflects on things past. Synecdoche, new york by charlie kaufman charlie kaufman. May, 2009 the ultimate postmodern novel is a film synecdoche, new york uses tricks that will be familiar to readers of postmodern fiction, but performs them better than any book hermione hoby. Then, just when you think its safe to go back to the movies, the plunger sucks up something from a clogged drain like the unspeakable, unpronounceable synecdoche, new york, and youre forced. Synecdoche, new york is the kind of movie that only exceedingly talented filmmakers can get away with, and usually only once in a career. Fiction books similar to the movies the tree of life, the. Join our community of taste explorers to save your discoveries, create inspiring lists, get personalized recommendations, and follow interesting people.
The bold and boundlessly original debut novel from the oscarwinning screenwriter of being john malkovich, adaptation, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, and synecdoche, new york. The plot follows an ailing theater director hoffman as he works on an increasingly elaborate stage production whose extreme commitment to. Kaufman juggles philosophy, drama, and comedy with incredible ease, and the performances are some of the best of the year. Im currently in university as a film major and i realized over the past few years that ive been severely lacking in terms of my storytelling when watching great philosophical films like these. A figure of speech inwhich a part is used for the whole, as in the screen for movies. I read the script to charlie kaufmans new film synecdoche, new york as soon as i could get my hands on it. Jan 06, 2020 the clear intent is that she works as synecdoche for the citizenry of new york a person who feels real but whose experiences speak to the wider risk and fear going on offcamera, clarifying the human stakes of a fantastical conflict. Charlie kaufman announces new book antkind, about a film. Search the worlds most comprehensive index of fulltext books. The closer two names are, the greater the probability the two movies are similar. When i was in elementary school, i found a book that explained the difference between metonymy and synecdoche, which time seems to have fudged. What was synecdoche, new york 2008 movie trying to say. What books, movies, music, anything, really, will i like if. You should actually pronounce synecdoche a little like the town in upstate new york, schenectady, which is where the film takes place one of those smartannoying touches typical of writer.
A typically twisted and mindbending drama from writerdirector charlie kaufman, synecdoche new york is a film about a selfabsorbed theater director played by philip seymour hoffman who, as his real personal life crashes down around him, sets to creating a theatrical masterpiece about life mimicking art mimicking life, with a lifesized replica of new york city inside a huge. In this epic tragicomedy, caden cotard philip seymour hoffman, a schenectady, n. Le vicende di caden cotard interpretato da philip seymour hoffman, regista teatrale frustrato, afflitto da una misteriosa malattia e ossessionato dal timore della morte. He made his directorial debut with synecdoche, new york. But the thing that make synecdoche, new york a 5 star film the best of the decade according to roger ebert is the screenplay. Charlie kaufman is that talented, but he picked a dangerously early point to cash in his free pass.
Synecdoche, new york feels like the work of a man gripped by fear, grief, and a sense that time is running out. Then again, few people do know kaufman, as he has famously managed to sidestep much. It intends no less than to evoke the strategies we use to live our lives. Life is looking pretty bleak for theater director caden cotard philip seymour hoffman. Dec 30, 2009 synecdoche, new york is the best film of the decade. That is, until i received an email from gwen today. Psy is like if youre crazy and sy is like these things on my face. In another movie, cadens mishap might be comic, or perhaps tragic. Could synecdoche, new york be the worst movie ever. What charlie kaufman has achieved transcends the limitations of conventional cinema. Subscribe a theatre director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he creates a lifesize replica of new york city inside a warehouse as part of his new play. His themes and inventiveness make for very interesting films. As caden holds a redsoaked towel to his forehead, the. The best films of the decade roger ebert roger ebert.
Fiction books similar to the movies the tree of life, the master, or synecdoche, new york. As with kaufmans best material, how synecdoche is told is inextricable from what it means, the way our imagination is useless without the internal translation and delivery system that allows our brains to communicate with our bodies. Jun 18, 20 so it follows that synecdoche, new york does not concern itself with such. The clear intent is that she works as synecdoche for the citizenry of new york a person who feels real but whose experiences speak to the wider risk and fear going on offcamera, clarifying the human stakes of a fantastical conflict. Oct 19, 2008 charlie kaufman, the director of synecdoche, new york, is not trying to be difficult.
1170 274 574 641 1150 1177 798 333 109 760 285 394 1278 876 1183 362 935 681 501 1007 914 959 248 1174 670 400 516 1094 709 1040 1346 968 252