CINEMA: Synedoche, New York

Charlie Kaufman wants to get inside your head!

He wants his audience to try and figure out his films and for them to find their own unique connection with his work, be it the awesome Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the mind-warping Being John Malkovich or underrated Human Nature.

In his new film (and first time he has stepped behind the camera) he sets about constructing a film with a play within the film within the film which is enough to give even old Malkovich a headache.

Put simply, the film is about a theatre director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) building a lifesize replica of New York inside an enormous warehouse as he struggles to complete a play telling the story of his own life.

There is so much to say about this film – which on on one level is the study of a man’s whole adult life and relationships, while on another is about health and the steady descent to death – so let’s look at things other than the story which is something that will divide audiences right down the middle.

The performances all round are absolutely brilliant, particularly Hoffman’s central role of the always-ill Cotard simply trying to hold his life together and find truth in his work. He imbues the character with depth and gravitas so that we actually care about his troubles on screen. Michelle Williams as his second wife Claire proves again that she is an actress growing in strength with every new role. Hope Davis as Cotard’s shrink is as good as ever while kudos should go to the casting of not only just Samantha Morton as Hazel but to Emily Watson who ends up playing the character of Hazel in Cotard’s play.

Spike Jonze was originally going to direct, and unfortunately the direction is the one problem with this film, as Jonze’s stylistic flourishes and touches are sorely missed. Kaufman is simply not experienced enough behind the camera to make this really sparkle. The camerawork is often stagey and static and although this fits in with the idea of filming a play, it’s not enough to raise it to same level as the astounding script and great cast performances.

Synecdoche, New York will confuse and enrage many who will see it as pretentious shite, but there is enough intelligence and strong ideas in the script to make this worth watching in the cinema.

Mark Cappuccio