Songbird
Nov
7
Synecdoche, New York
Filed Under Film Box, Music Mix Up
It’s pronounced sin-NECK-doh-key. Say it fast and you got it. Don’t let some punk kid at the box office correct you condescendingly as if he’s used the word in conversation the last decade. The great Charlie Kaufman, who is responsible for this, is also responsible for some of the most outrageous and inspiring scripts made in mainstream Hollywood. If you go down the list, he’s literally never taken a misstep tying his material with the proper director. He’s been blessed with Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry and of course George Clooney as directors.
I walked out of this complete and total mindfuck not really knowing which way as up, let alone if I liked it or not. I knew I had seen something stunning, but I wasn’t sure if Kaufman was making fun of me or bowled me over with a work of such staggering genius my poor mind trembled before him. You see, this film is his directorial debut and he flexed that power as if he’s been doing this his life entire. He not only created a total world of fantasy while retaining reality, but he also created a world for his actors to live in and poop in.
The damn film was just so blazingly sad and depressing and winding in upon itself with time going by decades per cut and confusing and like a Chimera that had the penis and vagina fused together locked eternally in a staring contest. I can almost compare it to an extremely well done and high budget student film that’s more like visual poetry than anything. Yes there is a cohesive story, but the line between reality and the main character’s fantasy was so blurry it might as well have been a part of the scenery.
I’m rambling on purpose, brevity being the soul of wit and method to the madness and all that. I recommend two types of people to see this film: those that are snooty and would see such a film anyway and those that are curious about a car accident on the freeway. You see, I’m so confused about this masterful work of art that I really do need to let it stew some more… catch it on the flip side in the comfort of my living room… throw back a beer and let it happen.
Maybe I’ll write a real review then.
P.S. Hoffman was a god yet again.
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Rachel here: The soundtrack was written by the genius Jon Brion, music which sounds inspired from a smokey jazz club with a pinch of class. Little Person, sung by jazz vocalist Deanna Storey and I must add that Ms. Storey is quite the mysterious one… I found her old CD Baby bio and a very sparse IMDb page… Quite elusive indeed. Little Person is just a wonderfully sad but beautifully touching song. An absolute perfect marriage of music and film.
mp3: Little Person
Synedoche, New York 2008 (Lakeshore Records)
Album available digitally at Amazon
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5 Responses to “Synecdoche, New York”
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Rachel - Music, FilmAggregator Love
Just saw the film in LA yesterday and I agree with the review. It was like looking at a piece of art so big that you really not sure what you’re looking at. It never gives you a place to rest and take comfort. My roommate summed it up the best “I didn’t like that movie, but it had a profound effect on me.”
That’s a very good way of putting it!
I said it fast and tripped over my tounge, but seriously the music I heard and the sample track is superb, love the old world new feel.
Thanks for posting this. Just saw the movie, and had to have this song. Had to.
:-) Tis beautiful indeed