Synecdoche, New York is a brave film, it's the kind of film that actors love to star in the kind of film that people love to say they have enjoyed even if they don't understand it or the kind of film that people despise because it bases itself on feelings and at times becomes so introspective that it disappears up its own jacksy and reappears out of its longingly spun navel. Directed by Charlie Kauffman who has a loyal and keen following of fans from the films he has written such as 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind', 'Being John Malkovich' and 'Adaptation'. He also has an equally loyal set of people who laugh at the ...  Read the complete review

syn·ec·do·che   [si-nek-duh-kee] -noun A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor) or the whole for a part (as the law for police officer). A film that has to tell you how to pronounce the title, hasn't exactly got itself off to a great start. Synecdoche is the story of Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who is a playwright with problems. He is a self-obsessed hypochondriac whose wife has just left him. He decides to direct a new play in a giant warehouse which will reconstruct his whole life and his interactions with other people. The word synecdoche means when a part represents the whole or ...  Read the complete review

note: also appears in part on Flixster and The Student Room Charlie Kaufman is a strange man. He has made the mind-bending outings Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Adaptation, each dealing with issues of the mind and also ones of creativity and of contentedness. These issue coalesce in his newest film, the difficult-to-pronounce Synecdoche (Si-Neck-Dock-E) New York, where we get a fascinating look at the mind of a troubled writer going through some life changes. The film revolves around Caden Cotard, a theatre director whose life is left in the toilet after he is left by his wife, who also takes their daughter with ...  Read the complete review