Screening between Friday 15th and Thursday 28th May 2009 @ Watershed, Bristol

“There are 13 billion people in the world – can you even start to comprehend how many that is? – and none of them are an extra, each is the lead in their own story.” This is the fundamental idea behind Synecdoche, New York, Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut, the writer of Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.

Philip Seymour Hoffman shines as Caden Cotard, an aging theatre director battling with severe depression. As an escape from his failing marriage and ailing body, Caden becomes obsessed with a theatre piece he wants to create, a show that will be his legacy; something real, something pure, something truthful. As the years pass, Caden buries himself deeper and deeper into his incredibly ambitious masterpiece, surreally blurring the world of his play and his own deteriorating reality, but as outsiders looking in, are we watching Caden’s life story, Caden’s production, the insane inner-workings of Caden’s mind, or some sort of post-death epilogue?

The film too is wondrously ambitious. Deep philosophic questions are explored like an individual’s significance and the essence of humanity itself and you often feel like you are watching five films at once, overflowing as it is with ideas, stories and provocative messages. We spend a lot of time too exploring (what I like to call) ‘Truman Show Syndrome’ about life itself being a performance; that strange feeling which motivates as much as it unsettles that everything you do has meaning, that someone, somewhere is always watching. Each subject it tackles could easily fill its own film and Synecdoche, New York’s downfall is that you end up feeling like you’ve watching half of five really interesting films - overwhelmed and a little unfulfilled.

As a single film it often gets very confused and though it was too surreal for my tastes, I did find it very thought-provoking. That said, Synecdoche, New York does stir something inside you though and you will leave with an altered perspective of humanity.

www.watershed.co.uk

Matthew Whittle www.matthewwhittleblog.blogspot.com