Synecdoche, New York

I didn't know whether to laugh or feel sad when the Hoffman had to put some sort of eye drops just so he could cry

  Awepittance said:

  GORDO said:

  Mirezzi said:

Another bad:

 

Old people makeup was fucking horrendous. Took me out utterly.

 

Yes, but I think that was intentional.

 

hmm its one thing to disagree about if a film was good or not but to make excuses for things like that?

that's very reaching imo.

 

When i was in high school my friend's neighbor bought an Atari Jaguar, he had the game Aliens VS Predator. I went over there to play it and was horrified by how badly put together the game was, there was barely any sound when you walk around, you dont even know if you are being chased by an alien until you are attacked. His response was

'It's supposed to be silent like that, the game programmers intentionally didn't put any sounds in to make it more scary'

I called bullshit, and from that day forward in our group of friends sprung a new phrase 'Aliens VS Predator syndrome' a syndrome where the person suffering from it likes a particular thing so much that he will make excuses on behalf of the artists intentions without a) knowing them b) usually trying to cover up an obvious mistake, by saying the 'artist intended it that way'

 

i like Charlie Kaufmann a lot, but i don't think i can say with a straight face that 'yeah it was a really daring decision of him to use very rushed looking old people makeup instead of spending more time realistically aging the actors'

hahahahaha, Atari Jaguar Syndrome is not something I'm unfamiliar with. I worked at a video game store with a dwarf named Pat. When Rayman came out on Jaguar CD, we all inevitably compared it to the PlayStation version, which produced a million + lols. One day, my buddy Scott and I were imitating the horrid sound effects for the Jaguar version and Pat came over to join in with an impassioned defense. "The programmers wanted it to sound more like a classical 80's platformer by using a limited array of digital sounds."

That's not verbatim but it's fucking close. For at least six months after the Jaguar CD's release, he told us it was inevitable that the Jaguar would defeat mighty Sony.

Anyway, yeah, I gotta call bullshit on the spotty performances from the cast and the aging makeup thing. That being said, I don't think either factor changed my bottom line about the film. You'd have to think that Synecdoche did not have a bottomless budget, first of all, so they did a great job with $21M. As for performance, don't underestimate the value of an experienced director. This was Kaufman's first shot and he might not have a great eye for, and might not even be bothered by, shoddy acting. :undecided:

  Mirezzi said:

  Awepittance said:

  GORDO said:

  Mirezzi said:

Another bad:

 

Old people makeup was fucking horrendous. Took me out utterly.

 

Yes, but I think that was intentional.

 

hmm its one thing to disagree about if a film was good or not but to make excuses for things like that?

that's very reaching imo.

 

When i was in high school my friend's neighbor bought an Atari Jaguar, he had the game Aliens VS Predator. I went over there to play it and was horrified by how badly put together the game was, there was barely any sound when you walk around, you dont even know if you are being chased by an alien until you are attacked. His response was

'It's supposed to be silent like that, the game programmers intentionally didn't put any sounds in to make it more scary'

I called bullshit, and from that day forward in our group of friends sprung a new phrase 'Aliens VS Predator syndrome' a syndrome where the person suffering from it likes a particular thing so much that he will make excuses on behalf of the artists intentions without a) knowing them b) usually trying to cover up an obvious mistake, by saying the 'artist intended it that way'

 

i like Charlie Kaufmann a lot, but i don't think i can say with a straight face that 'yeah it was a really daring decision of him to use very rushed looking old people makeup instead of spending more time realistically aging the actors'

hahahahaha, Atari Jaguar Syndrome is not something I'm unfamiliar with. I worked at a video game store with a dwarf named Pat. When Rayman came out on Jaguar CD, we all inevitably compared it to the PlayStation version, which produced a million + lols. One day, my buddy Scott and I were imitating the horrid sound effects for the Jaguar version and Pat came over to join in with an impassioned defense. "The programmers wanted it to sound more like a classical 80's platformer by using a limited array of digital sounds."

 

That's not verbatim but it's fucking close. For at least six months after the Jaguar CD's release, he told us it was inevitable that the Jaguar would defeat mighty Sony.

 

Anyway, yeah, I gotta call bullshit on the spotty performances from the cast and the aging makeup thing. That being said, I don't think either factor changed my bottom line about the film. You'd have to think that Synecdoche did not have a bottomless budget, first of all, so they did a great job with $21M. As for performance, don't underestimate the value of an experienced director. This was Kaufman's first shot and he might not have a great eye for, and might not even be bothered by, shoddy acting. :undecided:

lol, nice jaguar story. $21m seems awfully high to me for the how the movie turned out, i'd guess most of that money went to the actors in it. If the guy who made Primer isn't lying his movie only took $7k to make

That reminds me of having discussions the gaming intelligentsia talk about Suda 51 games. (Killer 7, No More Heroes)

"This game sucks. It's not any fun to play."

"Yeah, but it's supposed to suck. It's a meta commentary on modern games. That's why it's brilliant."

"It's still not fun. Why would you want to play a game that's not fun?"

  beatfanatic said:

I didn't know whether to laugh or feel sad when the Hoffman had to put some sort of eye drops just so he could cry

How was that sad? My god, it was right after the raucous "SHE'S FUCKING FOUR YEARS OLD!!" wrestling match.

I think this is why I don't agree with most people here. Pathos wasn't on the menu when I was watching Caden fumble-fuck around for two hours. Synecdoche was an almost entirely intellectual exercise.

Mirezzi what shoddy acting are you talking about. hoffmans not shoddy. the guy was fucking brilliant.

  Awepittance said:

  GORDO said:

  Mirezzi said:

Another bad:

 

Old people makeup was fucking horrendous. Took me out utterly.

 

Yes, but I think that was intentional.

 

hmm its one thing to disagree about if a film was good or not but to make excuses for things like that?

that's very reaching imo.

 

When i was in high school my friend's neighbor bought an Atari Jaguar, he had the game Aliens VS Predator. I went over there to play it and was horrified by how badly put together the game was, there was barely any sound when you walk around, you dont even know if you are being chased by an alien until you are attacked. His response was

'It's supposed to be silent like that, the game programmers intentionally didn't put any sounds in to make it more scary'

I called bullshit, and from that day forward in our group of friends sprung a new phrase 'Aliens VS Predator syndrome' a syndrome where the person suffering from it likes a particular thing so much that he will make excuses on behalf of the artists intentions without a) knowing them b) usually trying to cover up an obvious mistake, by saying the 'artist intended it that way'

 

i like Charlie Kaufmann a lot, but i don't think i can say with a straight face that 'yeah it was a really daring decision of him to use very rushed looking old people makeup instead of spending more time realistically aging the actors'

uh? you're talking about a film where (at the very surface level) the line between reality in the film and the representation of reality in the film is blurred, even more, it is left ambiguous if the big picture of things is reality, fantasy or representation. how would you chose to make evident, for example, to show that something is the representation and something is reality? you would use the costumes and make up of the representation evident, no? i.e. when in a movie you see people portraying actors, they make it so that it is evident that they are acting.

if it was intentional or not i don't care, it certainly brings another dimension to the thing and it is a nice detail to include if it was intentional. and btw i was the first one in this thread to notice and acknowledge the bad make up.

  Mr Salads said:

Mirezzi what shoddy acting are you talking about. hoffmans not shoddy. the guy was fucking brilliant.

i have to agree with this one

I never commented on PSH. Yes, he was fine, but he's also on the top three most masochistic actors in Hollywood list alongside Penn and Gibson. He's done this before and yes, he's overexposed. However, once again, that factor did not really hurt my estimation of the film on the whole.

it made sense to me because I thought it was supposed to make it feel more like a play

or something

i need to watch it sober

I need to watch it drunk...and high...and in my underwear...and on a Friday night...and alone...and with no interruptions...and with the shades drawn a bit tighter...and with vaseline...and with a book of poetry in my lap.

We call that Atoppin' it yo!

  autopilot said:

  sneaksta303 said:

  autopilot said:

Unbreakable is a fantastic film.

 

One of my faves. The 1st time I saw it, I was tripping on DMX (which is a great movie drug) and it blew me away.

 

Other great DXM movies:

 

Gummo

Pi

Cabin Fever

 

I hope you realize I've read about two dozen posts by you where you've unknowingly interchanged "DMX" and "DXM".

 

 

 

...you fucking Krew fanboy.

lol... wow. i fail. lol...

  Quote

-Bending Reality: Again, with quite literally every Kaufman project, he's done this and I now firmly believe he is a one-trick pony. "Oh my gosh, is this really happening? No, wait, WOW, that's so random!" This is where my hipster critique comes in, Zaphod, and it's not projection. Sitting around in a house that's burning down, climbing into the warehouse of the warehouse of the warehouse of the warehouse, building a set that mirrors his own apartment, casting three people to play himself, etc. That's all very kitschy and for one film from any given director, I'll indulge in it because it can be fun. For me, that film was somewhere between Eternal Sunshine and Adaptation. Yes, I prefer both to Synecdoche. The question has to be asked though...how many times will people dig that? It doesn't matter, but I'm done with it.

 

I may have more later, these are just some of my thoughts and I don't wanna chicken out of a discussion. I also wanna keep Zaphod at bay so he doesn't project his own projections about projection onto me. (See what I did there? Kaufman, eat your heart out!)

what does that have to do with being a hipster? that's just post modernism, meta film, etc. it has nothing to do with being hip. in many ways it's a completely outdated style to work within, something that peaked in the late nineties and worked better in the literary medium anyway. but it's the style he's working within and has always worked within and apparently you don't like it, which is fine, understandable even, but calling people hipsters because they enjoyed this is just retarded.

If I call it hipster, it's because I think it's contrived, which is also of course very subjective.

I've laid out quite a few ideas about Synecdoche, so for purposes of keeping the discussion forward-moving, let's strike "hipster" from the discussion. What else you got?

nothing. i liked it. that's it.

For the purposes of moving this conversation forward, this movie is pretty fucking good.

  Mirezzi said:

If I call it hipster, it's because I think it's contrived, which is also of course very subjective.

 

I've laid out quite a few ideas about Synecdoche, so for purposes of keeping the discussion forward-moving, let's strike "hipster" from the discussion. What else you got?

here's what i think about synecdoche. it's the purest possible portrayal of human experience and memory. it's easily arguable that it's supposed to be hoffman's life flashing before his eyes in his final few seconds, but i don't really care whether that's true or not. we experience that dude's life exactly the way he does, but with the added ability to be impartial observers. we see the way that metaphors become reality and reality becomes metaphors for someone lost in their own world of self-hatred and pain. most importantly, he shows how we all create our own worlds, how the kingdoms of our experiences are laid with the foundations of our intent.

Nicely worded...

It is that deep and further....

I think Kaufman invented fourth-person point of view with this film....

P K Dick probably did it first though....

I think it's also a noteworthy occasion that Zaphod has liked a contemporary film. For that, I'm glad, because it means his heart is not completely dead and it also means there's still a chance he'll fuck me. That is, once he gets his dick out of PSH. :kiss:

I can't believe this film is only just being released in the UK.

It's understandable that they didn't want a worldwide release because this film is definitely a slow-burner and not sales-driven. I've pirated it before, but it deserves my money in actuality, so we'll see if I pay for it.

And holy shit, this film has been a massive failure financially: It cost $20m to produce and has so far only made $3,083,538 globally.

  Mirezzi said:

I need to watch it drunk...and high...and in my underwear...and on a Friday night...and alone...and with no interruptions...and with the shades drawn a bit tighter...and with vaseline...and with a book of poetry in my lap.

 

We call that Atoppin' it yo!

you know me so well......

  Atop said:

I think Kaufman invented fourth-person point of view with this film....

haha, awesome

  Mirezzi said:

I think it's also a noteworthy occasion that Zaphod has liked a contemporary film. For that, I'm glad, because it means his heart is not completely dead and it also means there's still a chance he'll fuck me. That is, once he gets his dick out of PSH. :kiss:

zaphod likes plenty of contemporary films; and the word 'hipster' makes absolutely no fucking sense applied to this movie

also; it was very good, i don't know what you're all going on about

we all love it (most of us anyway)