While most of us need help pronouncing its name, let alone interpreting its transcendental density, there’s no doubt writer-turned-director Charlie Kaufman came out with a visionary film this past fall. And yet, media reception of ‘Synechdoche, New Your’ was tough to watch, as critics ruthlessly deemed it an idiosyncratic, overreaching morass of epic themes.
For all its ambition and audacious gall ‘mdash; baited in off-beat comedy ‘mdash; Phillip Seymour Hoffman and the rest of the film’s gifted cast (Michelle Williams, Tom Noonan, Catherine Kener, et al.) round out a brazenly original project that courts human insignificance with artistic redemption. Exploring new narrative structures, genre tactics and the creative limits of screenwriting, ‘Synecdoche’ basks in a hyper-baroque style that exaggerates and exhausts its own architecture with intellectual craft.
While many films of 2008 tamed relatively modest plots for the sake of aesthetic polish, Kaufman managed to reach both visual and literary summits. If the flick begs more than one viewing, it only takes one glance to recognize that ‘Synechdoche’ went as underappreciated as it was unseen.