Synecdoche, New York

Synecdoche, New York
Promotional poster for Synecdoche, New York
Directed by	Charlie Kaufman
Written by	Charlie Kaufman
Produced by	Anthony Bregman Spike Jonze Charlie Kaufman
Starring	Philip Seymour Hoffman Catherine Keener Jennifer Jason Leigh Michelle Williams Samantha Morton Hope Davis Emily Watson Dianne Wiest Tom Noonan
Music by	Jon Brion
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics
Release dates	North America: October 24 2008
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$12.4 million (US dollars)

Synecdoche, New York is a film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, in his directorial debut. It premiered in competition Friday, May 23, 2008 at the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival, and had a limited release on October 24, 2008.

Title

The title is a play on Schenectady, New York, where some of the story takes place, with synecdoche, which reflects a trope of the film. The title also refers to the fact that the main character builds a replica of New York City in a warehouse for his play.

Plot

Theater director Caden Cotard is mounting a new play. After producing a version of Death of a Salesman in which he casts young actors in the roles of Willy and Linda, he receives a MacArthur genius grant. He is determined to use the money create a piece of brutal realism and honesty, something into which he can put his whole self, and so he gathers an ensemble cast into an impossibly huge warehouse in Manhattan's theater district. He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a small mockup of the city outside. As the city inside the warehouse grows, Caden's own life veers wildly off the tracks. The shadow of his ex-wife Adele, a celebrated painter who left him years ago for Germany's art scene, sneers at him from every corner. Somewhere in Berlin, his daughter Olive is growing up under the questionable guidance of Adele's friend, Maria. He's helplessly driving his marriage to actress Claire into the ground. Sammy Barnathan, the actor Caden has hired to play himself within the play, is a bit too perfect for the part, and is making it difficult for Caden to revive his relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel. Meanwhile, his therapist, Madeline Gravis, is better at plugging her best-seller than she is at counseling him. His second daughter, Ariel, is retarded. And a mysterious condition is systematically shutting down each of his autonomic functions, one by one. As the years rapidly pass, Caden buries himself deeper into his masterpiece. Populating the cast and crew with doppelgangers, he steadily blurs the line between the world of the play and that of his own deteriorating reality. As he pushes the limits of his relationships, both personally and professionally, a change in creative direction arrives in Millicent Weems, a celebrated theater actress who may offer Caden the break he needs.

This movie was an existential allegory of Caden, his neuroses, his loneliness and his inability to love. His only connection to life form was through moving dialogue. Each actor was an extension of himself and his ongoing dialogue to understanding his own pain. He is unable to allow his characters (or himself) see more than pain.

Details

The film was originally set to be directed by Spike Jonze who instead chose to direct Where the Wild Things Are.

The movie has been described by Kaufman as being "creepy" but not a traditional horror movie.

Cast

• Philip Seymour Hoffman as Caden Cotard
• Catherine Keener as Adele Lack
• Samantha Morton as Hazel
• Hope Davis as Madeleine Gravis
• Tom Noonan as Sammy Barnathan
• Emily Watson as Tammy
• Jennifer Jason Leigh as Maria
• Dianne Wiest as Ellen Bascomb / Millicent Weems
• Michelle Williams as Claire Keen
• Sadie Goldstein as Olive (4 years old)

Notes

• Hamptons International Film Festival 2008 Selection [1]

External links

• Official Website
• Synecdoche, New York at IMDb
• Synecdoche, New York review on Orange Film

• "O, Synecdoche, my Synecdoche!" Roger Ebert blog