Review of Synecdoche, New York (2008) by Legitsalt — 17 Aug 2018

This is a powerfully real, and applicable movie. With themes relating to what it means to live, and the significance, and or the impending nature, of death. The performances that were given by every actor, the actors that they play, and the actors that they play, were utterly phenomenal and truly tangible.

The harsh reality, and perspective that this movie shoves upon us only becomes more concrete, upon multiple viewing, and especially age. This movie tells the story of Caden Cotard, a playwright obsessed with his death, and his incapabilities to experience anything in a way that is not for himself.

His wife leaves him, taking his daughter, and he tries to start over again, this time with his ex-box office Hazel. This too fails, as Caden is unable to live in the real world, having a non-existent temporal awareness.

Caden suddenly gets a MacArthur grant, giving him funding to start and complete his magnum opus. He decides that he wants to do a big piece targetting death. As he figures out what exactly he wants to do, he becomes intimate with one of the actors, casting upon her the identity of his ex-wife.

After having a slight identity crisis, he goes to Germany to try to meet his daughter, Olive. To him, Olive is a symbol of both possibilities and his failures. He arrives at a rude awakening and returns more downtrodden than ever.

Continuing his to work on his piece, as it now nears its 20th year of production, he aims to strip away any and all fallacy from the piece. He seeks to make something that entirely encapsulates every aspect of life itself, and becomes indistinguishable.

But as he does so, the same becomes true to him, as he begins to lose sight of what is reality, and seeks to have every waking experiences aspect of his life encapsulated in the, now gargantuan piece.

Finally losing his identity as a whole, he awakes one day to find that his entire life has slipped past him, as he dies in the arms of Ellen's mother. Ellen, being a person who might not truly exist. It does all this, while also commenting on a myriad of life's intricacies.

For a more complete analysis and review, I highly recommend checking out YourMovieSuckDOTorg's 5+ part series delving into the film. This is by far one of Charlie Kaufman's best films and one of the best of the 2000's.