Synecdoche, New York

  chenGOD said:

  Awepittance said:

  AOOproductions said:

I'm not super excited about this because it didn't seem to garner as much... or any buzz from Cannes. i was expecting rave reviews from there, but it didn't seem to stir much up surprisingly. And with a cast like this headed by arguably the best actor in the industry next to Daniel Day Lewis and a writer as brilliant as Kaufman, how did it not get buzz?

 

please give a less pretentious response about this movie besides 'im not excited about this movie because it didnt get buzz at cannes'

 

I dunno how you can get less pretentious than that actually....;) Hollywood stars on the red carpet doesn't really equal high-brow intellectualism right? Or does it? I'm so confused....

 

 

pretentious would have been if he'd mentioned the Berlin film festival, or the Vienna one. Those are the daddies of pretention.

I really wasn't being pretentious at all? WTF. Cannes is a respectable film festival were some of the films that have become the most respected over the last 50 years have been born. And if anything cannes is becoming more commercial everyday, they fucken show hollywood blockbusters there. All I was saying was it seemed suspect that a film with such a brilliant group of writers, directors, and actors didn't get much attention there. Capiche?

I want this in my pants!

This is what I want inside my pants!

  chenGOD said:

And i just learned what synechdoce means, so that's neat.

i didnt. please share

  awkward said:

  chenGOD said:

And i just learned what synechdoce means, so that's neat.

 

i didnt. please share

Synecdoche

The use of synecdoche is a common way to emphasize an important aspect of a fictional character; for example, a character might be consistently described by a single body part, such as the eyes, which come to represent the character. This is often used when the main character does not know or care about the names of the characters that he/she is referring to.

* Examples where a part of something is used to refer to the whole:

o "The ship was lost with all hands [sailors]."

o "His parents bought him a new set of wheels [car]."

o Similarly, "mouths to feed" for hungry people, "white hair" for an elderly person, "the press" for news media.

o For nations, "Britain" or "Great Britain" (that is, the largest of the British Isles) is sometimes used to mean the entire United Kingdom, as is "Holland" for the Netherlands or as "Russia" (formerly) was for the Soviet Union. From 1992 to 2003, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was commonly called "Serbia" due to the political and cultural dominance of Serbia within the state.

* Examples where the whole of something is used to refer to a part of it:

o "Use your head [brain] to figure it out."

o "Michigan [the government of Michigan] just passed a law addressing this problem."

o Similarly, "body" for the trunk of the body, the "smiling year" for spring.

* Examples where a species (specific kind) is used to refer to its genus (more general kind):

o "The cutthroats [assassins] there will as soon shoot a man as look at him."

o "Could you pass me a Kleenex [facial tissue]?"

o "I've just finished with the hoover [vacuum cleaner]."

o Similarly, "coke" for pop/soda, "castle" for home, "meat" or "bread" for food, "Judas" for traitor.

* Examples where the material from which an object is made is used to refer to the object itself:

o "Those are some nice threads [clothes]."

o Similarly, "willow" for cricket bat, "copper" for penny, "roof" for a house, "boards" for stage, "ivories" for piano keys, "plastic" for credit card, "the hardwood" for a gym floor, "pigskin" for football, "steel" for a sword, "lead" for a bullet and "rubber" for vehicle tires.

interesting comment i read in a message board about the upcoming Coen brothers film "A Serious Man"

  Quote

I was lucky enough to land a copy of the script of the next Coen Brothers film, "A Serious Man", which is lined up to be filmed later this year (and released presumably next year as the follow up release to "Burn After Reading"... all this barring a SAG strike in June, of course). Their work ethic is beginning to rival that of Woody Allen with numerous projects all lined up and their output getting to be more of an annual thing rather than every other year or two.

 

At any rate, the script is pretty good, quite funny and, even though I'm a little biased about this, but it feels, especially in the first half, to be influenced by Charlie Kaufman. The similarities between this script and Kaufman's "Synecdoche, New York" are many and the Coens seem to have transplanted the whole Kaufman-esque bit about bizarre, baffling relations with other people that is so apparent in "Synecdoche" and "Being John Malkovich".

  Awepittance said:

interesting comment i read in a message board about the upcoming Coen brothers film "A Serious Man"

 

  Quote

I was lucky enough to land a copy of the script of the next Coen Brothers film, "A Serious Man", which is lined up to be filmed later this year (and released presumably next year as the follow up release to "Burn After Reading"... all this barring a SAG strike in June, of course). Their work ethic is beginning to rival that of Woody Allen with numerous projects all lined up and their output getting to be more of an annual thing rather than every other year or two.

 

At any rate, the script is pretty good, quite funny and, even though I'm a little biased about this, but it feels, especially in the first half, to be influenced by Charlie Kaufman. The similarities between this script and Kaufman's "Synecdoche, New York" are many and the Coens seem to have transplanted the whole Kaufman-esque bit about bizarre, baffling relations with other people that is so apparent in "Synecdoche" and "Being John Malkovich".

*bloodbath orgasm*

I just saw this. It was a really hard to follow film for me, i walked in about 10 minutes late so that could have been why.

It's very hard to compare this to Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine, or Being John Malkovich.

As a directorial debut it was very impressive, but i really think the script to Synecdoche would have been in better hands if it was done by Spike Jonze.

Tonally it didn't remind me of many other films, the story had some similarities to Inland Empire but comparisons end there.

The parts i liked best about it reminded me of some of my favorite Kurt Vonnegut books like Slaughterghouse 5 Cat's Cradle and Sirens of Titan. The movie had a very Bokononism philisophy and the main character seemed to be slipping forward in time like Billy Pilgrim. I'm going to have to see it again for sure

can't fucking wait!

Great interview w/ Charlie here.

anybody see it yet? im dying to hear some opinions from other people

Just got back from this. Many-layered with no obvious plot, but I think it would be the wrong movie to try and "piece together".

I don't want to write a lot about this because I think that would be missing the point. It's a story about a man who can't stop thinking about his problems long enough to look at the world around him. I think every human being is supposed to identify with him on some level, and through his hyperbole, be able to laugh at what a waste of time and life it is. There is some genuinely great comedy in here that will probably be overlooked because of all the sadness.

I was ashamed at the parts of me I could identify with Hoffman's character. I think the point of the movie is that there's no need to be ashamed, that we all do this in one way or another, and that we can get past it if we try.

Like GB3, would love to read some other reviews on here. .

I didn't like it. It made me mad.

Probably the most pretentious movie ever made.

seeing this tomorrow evening :)

  jefferoo said:

I didn't like it. It made me mad.

Probably the most pretentious movie ever made.

dude it's the 21st century... EVERYTHING is pretentious

saw it a few days ago. the most primitive theme i'd drawn was that the movie's just about a man trying to rationalize life, which is inherently irrational. in rationalizing it, he is inevitably dwarfed by the maximalist attempt he's making, and is eventually assigned a role to play, which isn't too far off from reality. past that there's a lot going on, but definitely want to watch again.

i had read reviews that said some themes and scenes in the film would have been weeded out by any other director.

from that i'm thinking the burning house, and the political undertones (revolucion!) of the city and its (increasingly fucked up) people as they develop in the warehouse seemed out of place and incidental, respectively, but otherwise interesting movie.

early on though, editing really bugged me, and cinematography slightly less so; my girlfriend interpreted the editing as from the subjectivity of the protagonist, fleeting moments cut abruptly. and a few surprisingly cheesy points that other directors could have handled better.

I didn't see it but it was a lot like a western where clint eastwood shot a lot of people but not totally. and the cyclical nature of life. the end. poop

fucking beautiful, like a star exploding on film, and the second, and then third person written approach was like tripping on psychadelics....

Theatre freaks and PKDick heads should be amazed by this.....

I not only identified with Hoffman and most of the characters in the film, I felt I was in the fucking movie....

Kaufman writing the audience into his film, which I have never seen done to this extent and so perfectly...

The film travels through time.....

most people will hate it because it is one long version of the scene towards the end of 2001, Cayden (sp?) is Dave Bowman entering the monolith and we get to see him figure out the big mystery of life in a little over two hours.....it is in there somewhere and I will watch it enough times to figure it out....

The comparisons to Lynch are deserved, but he is a film maker that many more people can handle....and enjoy......and relate to where as they never knew they could relate to a film....

best first directing job I have ever seen, every scene felt like you could reach through the screen, maybe I am more sensitive than most people but the film was physically tangible for me....

Kaufman is gold!

going to see this on thursday. double feature with changeling on first. hopefully my ass will make it through. mixed reviews so far it seems - here and in the press

am i the only one who thinks this looks boring ??

am i the only one who noticed the jennifer jason leigh nipple flash?

am I the only one who saw Emily Watson's beautiful tits?

I just watched it and yes, I saw Emily Watson's breasts including her little pot belly. Sweet.

I don't really like discussing what movies are about since everyone is entitled to have their own opinion about what they just watched. But just like Atop mentioned a couple of posts back I really felt this movie as well. I felt his pain, confusion etc., and I guess that just shows to tell what a great Philip Seymour Hoffman is.

am i a good Philip Seymour Hoffman?

i still dont understand how this movies hasnt made it to the torrents yet