Synecdoche, New York

What a weird movie. I feel like I have to write down what I thought about it to make it concrete. I think there is no doubt that the screenplay of this movie is exceptional, and the acting is near perfect. There is so much stuffed in the movie and the movie never suffers from pacing issues, which is extremely impressive. I also thought that the themes were interesting and original. However, the movie lacks an emotional resonance. I tend to connect with a movie when it is at its most naturalistic, or when it is so out there weird that it almost comes full circle. This movie is never realistic, but it is only rarely surreal enough for me to find myself connecting with it. The few scenes that were out there enough were my favorite in the movie (the scenes with the psychologist, the bottled tears, the ending, etc.). Other than that, I found the movie incredibly well made, but ultimately cold. I also appreciated that they staged what seemed like the worst production of Death of a Salesman possible in the movie (I mean, the car literally being on stage?). Philip Seymour Hoffman and company were great, and you should definitely watch the movie if only because there isn't much else like it. I think the movie would have greatly benefited from a different director than the screen writer as to add some perspective into the movie. Has anyone else seen it? I know it flopped pretty hard when it originally came out.

Oh, and the soundtrack is amazing.

Updated On: 7/10/15 at 09:26 PM

It makes perfect sense. Sure, it takes place in a heightened reality, but it's not particularly difficult to understand and it's stuffed to the gills with actual literal meaning.

That's fine if you don't like it. God knows I have some controversial opinions on this Board, but saying that it was impossible to follow I think is just incorrect. And I think it's fair to say that a movie that is completely unique is worth seeing because it is unique. There are no other movies that I think can determine if you would like this movie, and there are no movies that I've ever seen that are vaguely similar to it. It's its own beast.

I honestly did not have high expectations for this film, but I really liked it. I think "vanity project" is a rather apt description, but not in a bad way because that also describes the plot and the meta aspect of the film. There was a point where I realized that following the plot wasn't as essential to the film as the mood and concept, so I just let go and followed the character along on his journey. I think it was the character's obsession that intrigued me most. Yes, the pacing is slow and yes the plot meanders, but to me, that seemed to be the point so it didn't bother me. I guess you just have to be in the right mood for it.

Painful though it be to both disagree with Bob and agree with Ebert in a single post, this is one of my favorite movies.

Growl, what do you have against Ebert?

I think it's a stone-cold masterpiece, easily one of the best films ever made. I don't think I could watch it again, though. It brought up way too many uncomfortable thoughts and emotions. I felt like it was meant to be seen just the one time.