Synecdoche, NY

Written and directed by Charlie Kaufmann

Starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Sadie Goldstein, Tom Noonan, Samantha Morton, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Emily Watson.

Reviewed by Junior.

syn·ec·do·che (n.) - A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword).

Talented screenwriter Charlie Kaufmann's directorial effort is an ambitious, sprawling rumination on the meaning of life and death and purpose through the eyes of an unfulfilled and either hypochondriac or actually dying theater director, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Catherine Keener plays his wife in what begins as a sad story about a sad couple on the verge of divorce, in therapy, and trying to balance the needs of their young daughter. Add to that the fact that Cadon (Hoffman) seems to be dying to the mix and you have the beginnings of a very depressing movie indeed.

His personal life falling apart and feeling his mortality, Caden (Hoffman) Cotard embarks on an ambitious, sprawling and ever-growing theater piece attempting to encompass---well, everything. It expands to encompass a mini-reconstruction of New York, with actors playing various characters, real and imagined, and actors playing the actors playing them... Meanwhile we follow Cadon as the years slip away and his life continues to be sad and unfulfilling.

After the first 15 minutes the audience is never quite sure what is real and what is not in the film, whether we are in linear time or not, whether any of this is really happening. We are taken on a journey through time and the meaning of life. One has to admire Kaufmann's guts for assaying this most serious of subjects and a very complicated production for his fledgling directorial effort. He shows an accomplished grasp of technique, although a little editing would have helped when the film seems to drag on and belabor some points. The cast is first-rate, and performs well throughout. In the end, though, the audience is left to wonder what was the point of this grim exercise. Perhaps the point is that there is no point.

Story: 7

Acting: 8

Look: 8

Overall: 7.5