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Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche New York is what I consider a “beautiful mess”. Kaufman’s unique and ambitious story about a theater director’s midlife crisis is frustrating, confusing, touching, fascinating, maddening and thought-provoking, all at the same time. In his directorial debut, Kaufman presents an unconventional tale about the meaning of life through the eyes of a miserable man named Caden Cotard. Cotard takes on a monumental task of staging his life as it happens. Things get mind-bending as Cotard casts an actor to play himself who in turn hires an actor to play himself in the play within the play and so on. But the key is not to focus on the intricacies. The heart of the story is about loneliness, regret, death and of course, love.

Like a lot of movies that Kaufman wrote in the past, either you’re going to love it or hate it. I consider Kaufman a brilliant writer and I was absolutely fascinated by the movie. Yes, it does get a bit frustrating and the film isn’t perfect by any means. But unique films like these need to be cherished in an industry full of Jerry Bruckheimer blow-em-ups and no-brainer comedies.

one of the many highlights in the film include this eulogy toward the end of the film. This is absolutely brillant -
Everything is more complicated than you think. You only see a tenth of what is true. There are a million little strings attached to every choice you make; you can destroy your life every time you choose. But maybe you won’t know for twenty years. And you’ll never ever trace it to its source. And you only get one chance to play it out. Just try and figure out your own divorce. And they say there is no fate, but there is: it’s what you create. Even though the world goes on for eons and eons, you are here for a fraction of a fraction of a second. Most of your time is spent being dead or not yet born. But while alive, you wait in vain, wasting years, for a phone call or a letter or a look from someone or something to make it all right. And it never comes or it seems to but doesn’t really. And so you spend your time in vague regret or vague hope for something good to come along. Something to make you feel connected, to make you feel whole, to make you feel loved. And the truth is I’m so angry and the truth is I’m so fucking sad, and the truth is I’ve been so fucking hurt for so fucking long and for just as long, have been pretending I’m OK, just to get along, just for, I don’t know why, maybe because no one wants to hear about my misery, because they have their own, and their own is too overwhelming to allow them to listen to or care about mine. Well, fuck everybody. Amen.

If you haven’t seen it already, be sure to check it out.

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TV and movies, reviews by retroDan