"Synecdoche, New York" (2008) Directed by Charlie Kaufman

“I’ve told you before, it’s not a play about dating. It’s about death. Make it personal”.

Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut is clearly many things. A labour of love for sure and a somewhat autobiographical tale of a man desperately seeking that truly unique piece of artistic creation. Equally Synecdoche, New York (a slight play on words as the film is set primarily in Schenectady, New York and that synecdoche means a part of something that represents the whole, and vice versa — a key theme of the film) has echoes of his screenplay for Being John Malkovich in 1999 and of a man in the midst of an existential crisis, pondering on the meaning of life, and the threat of death. The man in question is “Caden Cotard” and is brilliantly portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in one of his best performances ever to hit the big screen.

“Caden Cotard” (Philip Seymour Hoffman) Before and after playing Cotard here, consider these impressive roles portrayed by Hoffman: Scotty J in Boogie Nights, the incredibly sympathetic performance as Phil Parma in Magnolia, Truman Capote, Paul Zara in The Ides of March and the tour de force performance in yet another Paul Thomas Anderson film, The Master, as figurehead Lancaster Dodd. And in my humble opinion his performance here rates amongst the very best of his unfortunately short career. One of the greatest actors of our generation, he gives everything in his portrayal of Cotard as the film spans 30+ years of his life from 40 years of age onward until his death. Cotard is a hypochondriac theatre director seeking to leave the legacy of his lifetime, that one true piece of unique art that he will be remembered by. But from the very outset of the film we see and feel the angst within him.

The above paragraphs are taken from my spoiler free review of "Synecdoche, New York" which was originally penned and published some years ago, transferred to my Medium blog site on 29th January 2023 and which can now be read in full and for free (please also consider subscribing for free too!) via my Substack blog site and original article linked immediately below:

https://ramblingmusings666.substack.com/p/synecdoche-new-york-2008-3db04ec6dc41

This spoiler free review is also integral to Volume 5 of my "essential film reviews collection". Each volume and e-book is £4.99 however, should you have an Amazon Kindle "Unlimited" package, all volumes are available to read for free:

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