Synecdoche New York

A synecdoche (pronounced ‘sin-neck-duh-key’) is a figure of speech in which a part is used to describe the whole, the whole for a part; the specific for the general, the general for the specific; or the material for the thing made from it. So, if you were to say, “That girl is a fucking great piece of ass” that would be a synecdoche. Or, “Feel my steel you muthafucker!” just before you disembowel the noisy prick in the cinema with your sword because he won’t stop talking to his dumb-ass girlfriend because she doesn’t know what’s going on. It was with that in mind that I sat down to Synecdoche New York, the new film from one of Hollywood’s best writers, Charlie Kaufman.

Theatre-director, Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), fresh from the success of his MacArthur Genius Award winning production of Death Of A Salesman decides to use the grant money to create a piece of theatre with such brutal realism and honesty that he creates a life-size set of his neighbourhood in a warehouse in his neighbour, complete with its own neighbourhood and warehouse, all populated by actors living out their lives acting out parts in his life. Confused? That's nothing!

Over the last few years, Charlie Kaufman has written some of the best films to come out of the States – Being John Malkovich, Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind – but, this is Kaufman’s first time out as director. With other directors, his ideas have been accompanied with a “fluffer” to make the load-shooting process a little easier. This isn’t the case with Synecdoche New York. For example, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character’s last name, Cotard, is a reference to the Cotard delusion or Cotard’s Syndrome, also known as nihilistic or negation delusion, which is a rare neuro-psychiatric disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that he or she is dead, does not exist, is putrefying or has lost his/her blood or internal organs. That might give you some fucking idea of the level we’re pitched at here. There’s no easy handles, there’s no-one guiding you through this like a fucking retard that hasn’t learnt how to take a shit properly – it’s harsh and gloomy and overpoweringly honest.

But at the same time, it’s delightfully quirky and astonishing optimistic. Kaufman takes you down surreal dead ends that have characters moving into a burning house, the protagonists often live out moments in each others’ lives for no discernible reason – you’ll be watching a scene and it’ll cut to a continuation of the same scene but 4 years has passed and Caden has got another daughter and his wife has a tattoo he never knew she had. At times, you’re never quite sure whether what you’re seeing is Caden’s life or his work. Doesn’t help that most of the scenes are set-up to look like you’re watching a play. However, Philip Seymour Hoffman has once again proved that he’s one of the best goddamn actors alive today and he’s is supported brilliantly by the entire cast who include Tom Noonan, Emily Watson, Samantha Morton, Catherine Keener and Michelle Williams.

Philip Seymour Hoffan, Michelle Williams and Tom NoonanMost people are going to struggle with Synecdoche New York but everyone who watches it will get something different out of it. At it’s heart, Synecdoche New York deals with peoples' fear of death and illness but the clue is very much in the title of this one – concentrate too much on the parts and you’ll overlook the whole. However, concentrate too much on the whole and you’ll forget the parts that make the whole worth-while. People spend so much fucking time trying to make their lives better they end up forgetting to live.

Charlie Kaufman, in my opinion, has outdone himself with this one. I fucking loved this film and would highly recommend to anyone with half a fucking brain! For the less cerebral out there, yes, its got tits in it.

Best film of the year if you're not a fucking moron out of 5.