| Category: | Movies |
| Genre: | Drama |
A creative pursuit gone visually wrong.
In the most recent work of Charlie Kaufman, writer of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, he does not only write for the screen but this time also directs his work in Synecdoche, New York.
In the movie's first part, Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a theater director who resides in Schenectady, N.Y., is seen leading a surreal life. His wife (Catherine Keener) leaves him, taking their daughter too, while he develops this mysterious degenerative illness in vague poles, introducing him to various surgery procedures (premature ageing, pustules). In this part, Hoffman clearly manages to exude his brilliant acting chaps: from his character going quite demure to wildly intriguing.
But in the movie's second half, Caden stages his life as a play, looking for actors to play his life (and in that pursuit, finding others to play other people too. Weird? That's how exactly Charlie Kaufman's works are). In the process, Caden piles up his theatrical-turned-life-changing experiments.
Tales of fear, family ties, and all visionary Kaufman stuffs make up this movie. And as always, the lead actors are always challenged in a Kaufman film (just like John Malkovich, who played a lot of him in the 1999 movie Being John Malkovich). Hence, Hoffman's acting is tremendously highlighted in the film. Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Hope Davis did stimulating performances too.
In a simple way, the movie can be expressed as a creative pursuit in challenging people to embrace reconciliation, ageing and death but with Kaufmans's always unconventional flair-to the point of uber-vagueness and tantamount obscurity and visual labyrinths- the film is snatched farther from its main point, sometimes too far away from the real concept.
In the most recent work of Charlie Kaufman, writer of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, he does not only write for the screen but this time also directs his work in Synecdoche, New York.
In the movie's first part, Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a theater director who resides in Schenectady, N.Y., is seen leading a surreal life. His wife (Catherine Keener) leaves him, taking their daughter too, while he develops this mysterious degenerative illness in vague poles, introducing him to various surgery procedures (premature ageing, pustules). In this part, Hoffman clearly manages to exude his brilliant acting chaps: from his character going quite demure to wildly intriguing.
But in the movie's second half, Caden stages his life as a play, looking for actors to play his life (and in that pursuit, finding others to play other people too. Weird? That's how exactly Charlie Kaufman's works are). In the process, Caden piles up his theatrical-turned-life-changing experiments.
Tales of fear, family ties, and all visionary Kaufman stuffs make up this movie. And as always, the lead actors are always challenged in a Kaufman film (just like John Malkovich, who played a lot of him in the 1999 movie Being John Malkovich). Hence, Hoffman's acting is tremendously highlighted in the film. Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Hope Davis did stimulating performances too.
In a simple way, the movie can be expressed as a creative pursuit in challenging people to embrace reconciliation, ageing and death but with Kaufmans's always unconventional flair-to the point of uber-vagueness and tantamount obscurity and visual labyrinths- the film is snatched farther from its main point, sometimes too far away from the real concept.
No comments:
Post a Comment