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In Reply to: RE: "Synechdoche, New York," you'll love this film if listening posted by tinear on November 30, 2008 at 17:58:28
...I'm guessing you either missed stuff or you just don't like this *kind* of film. Given the degree of self-awareness and intelligence that prevails in Kaufmann's work I would seriously doubt that "We're all going to die--- yet, we still have to go on living" would have been written without irony. That is, he probably intended it as a line people would recognize as a cliche and intended an additional dimension of meaning. For example, he could have intended it as a comment on the superficiality of the character who said it. When I see the film I may have a clearer idea about this!
One can't take everything said by a character in a film to be something that the author is stating positively or "agrees" with.
Follow Ups:
And I did see it.
"The man is only half himself, the other half is his expression." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
...are you agreeing with me or with Tin?
"Given the degree of self-awareness and intelligence that prevails in Kaufmann's work I would seriously doubt that "We're all going to die--- yet, we still have to go on living" would have been written without irony. That is, he probably intended it as a line people would recognize as a cliche and intended an additional dimension of meaning. For example, he could have intended it as a comment on the superficiality of the character who said it."There's no doubt the main character was full of self-loathing/self-absorption and that the film indulges that self loathing/absorption but it makes fun of it at the same time and is sensitive to the fact that while exaggerating that state it's touching on universal truths about being human and alive and is essentially a journey from self absorption to a kind of enlightenment.
I think out of the three films you mentioned it's most like Eternal Sunshine in that it's weird - in an almost science fiction kind of way - all the way through (as opposed to Malkovich and Adaptation where it veers off in the end to place that might take you out of the movie a bit) and it's easy to accept the strangeness as symbolism and the layers of complexity (which aren't all that complex) as the unwinding of a damaged mind (the character's, not CF's).
I think it was brilliant but not without flaws and I could see where someone could get turned off by the level of self loathing (it can uncomfortable) and not ever really get into the movie.
"The man is only half himself, the other half is his expression." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Edits: 12/02/08
d
Oops... I just did it again.
:-)
"The man is only half himself, the other half is his expression." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
d
very long--- exercise in self-pity. The clichés are non-stop (I only gave one example) and are spoken by the main character, a successful theater director. I have seen both of Kaufman's other works and, though they're interesting, they're hardly masterworks. But they have some balance, a bit of humor and aren't self-indulgent paeans to the--- sniffle--- unfairness of life.
The film has many other faults such as an overly complex layering of characters and persona and a "plot" revolving around a theater verité which takes about an hour to get off the ground.
Kaufman may be a writer of somewhat more than minor talent but as a director he's inept as hell.
Perhaps someone will watch this one-dimensional character and find something about him to care about. I didn't. But I'm not overly fond of men who cannot look beyond their own selves even for a moment.
...and then maybe I can say something substantive beyond the uninformed speculation I've indulged in so far!I will say that I loved "Eternal Sunshine..." and really liked "Adaptation," and was extremely fond of and entertained by "Being John Malkovich." So I expect to like "Synecdoche," especially considering it's gotten some very favorable reviews. But I'll decide for myself when I see it.
Edits: 12/01/08
Sunshine. Amazing performances by Carrey and Winslet.
...but the others were very much informed by his sensibility. I am aware that writing...and writing/directing a film are very different situations.
Synecdoche is a bit too long and maybe a bit too indulgent of CF's desire to say everything he wants to say in it but it's an admirable debut (as well as being an admirable writing job) IMO.
"The man is only half himself, the other half is his expression." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
(it is hard to remember exact locations in such a muddle of a film) towards the last 1/3 where CC (though obviously Kaufman in anticipation of criticism) admits to a fixation upon the negative and his life and it is obviously Kaufman's attempt at a preemptive argument.
Woody Allen's problems are interesting because of his humor in facing them; to open one's pus-filled (literally) wounds on camera for two hours, Steve, isn't particularly edifying, interesting, or of artistic merit.
In a nutshell: this film is the equivalent of watching a teenage girl mutilate herself with a razor blade, hour after hour.
I give it Five Zits.
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