Film Review: SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK (2008)

Writer/Director: Charlie Kaufman
Running time: 124 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Comedy/Drama
UK Release date: 24^th October 2008 (Limited)

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 9^th October 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I watched this film on a recommendation, one I picked up online somewhere. After the first few minutes I was wondering just what this crazy film was all about and just why was I bothering with it? I persevered though and it got better, I began to understand the characters and it got better still, if a bit weirder. I’ll tell you what I thought about it by the end after this brief summary.

Caden Cotard is a playwright and theatre director, he is married to artist, Adele Lack, and they have a daughter, Olive. They live in Synecdoche, upstate New York (hence the title) where Caden is worried about his health. When Adele doesn’t come to the opening night of his new play, Caden also begins to suspect things are not quite as stable at home as he thought. Soon after, Adele announces that she is going on a trip to Berlin and she will be taking Olive with her. Caden is somewhat dumbstruck, but continues living in New York. He is awarded a substantial prize for his work and decides to produce a play about his life and the people around him. As time passes he has relationships with several women, Claire Keen, with whom he had another daughter, Arial, and Hazel, who was to play a big part in his future. As he finds premises to put the play on and actors to play the many parts he has in mind the world outside moves on. I really don’t want to say too much more, it’s quite difficult to put down in words anyway and so I’ll leave it here… Don’t want those Spoiler Police playing the part of the Spoiler Police and chasing me down now.

I found this quite a strange film to watch, it has the scale of something like ‘Brazil’ by Terry Gilliam but also the snappy dialogue and soul searching of something by Woody Allen. All the performances were excellent, in particular Philip Seymour Hoffman as Caden Cotard, he played the role brilliantly. Also worthy of note were; Catherine Keener as Adele Lack, Tom Noonan as Sammy Barnathan, Michelle Williams as Claire Keen, Samantha Morton as Hazel and Dianne Wiest as Ellen Bascomb / Millicent Weems.

As I’ve already said, this is quite a strange film to watch, it blurs the lines between Caden’s real life and the life he is trying to portray on the stage. I found it quite refreshing, although it did drag on a bit towards the end. The scope of the film is quite magnificent, it spans several decades, or appears to, and yet Caden never seems to get any closer to finally opening the doors and letting an audience in. I found it quite touching in places but also found it hard to have much sympathy for Caden because all of he woes he brought down upon himself. At the end of the day though, it’s well worth a look; it will make you think if nothing else!... Recommended.

My Score: 7.1/10.

IMDb Score: 7.3/10 (based on 22,876 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0383028/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 68/100 (based on 175 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/synecdoche_new_york/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTE:
(It’s a long one I’m afraid… but a good one!)

Minister: Everything is more complicated than you think. You only see a tenth of what is true. There are a million little strings attached to every choice you make; you can destroy your life every time you choose. But maybe you won't know for twenty years. And you may never ever trace it to its source. And you only get one chance to play it out. Just try and figure out your own divorce. And they say there is no fate, but there is: it's what you create. And even though the world goes on for eons and eons, you are only here for a fraction of a fraction of a second. Most of your time is spent being dead or not yet born. But while alive, you wait in vain, wasting years, for a phone call or a letter or a look from someone or something to make it all right. And it never comes or it seems to but it doesn't really. And so you spend your time in vague regret or vaguer hope that something good will come along. Something to make you feel connected, something to make you feel whole, something to make you feel loved. And the truth is I feel so angry, and the truth is I feel so fucking sad, and the truth is I've felt so fucking hurt for so fucking long and for just as long I've been pretending I'm OK, just to get along, just for, I don't know why, maybe because no one wants to hear about my misery, because they have their own. Well, fuck everybody. Amen.

LINKS:
Trailer:

Film Review: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (2009)

Director: Spike Jonze
Running time: 101 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): PG

Genre: Drama/Book Adaptation
UK release date 11th December 2009

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 30th January 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

First of all, I had better say for the record that I have never read Maurice Sendak’s much loved book of the same title published in 1963. It’s just one of those that never crossed my path. The film, well, it didn’t really strike a chord with me (which I’ll probably get a lot of stick for) but hey, you can’t like everything. But more of that later, here’s a very brief summary first (summary haters please have a snowball fight while I write the next paragraph).

Max in a high spirited lad with a very active imagination who has a habit of throwing a tantrum when things don’t go his way. After an argument with his mother, Connie, he storms out of the house and runs away. The thing is, he also runs away in his head to a place across an ocean (yes, you guessed it) to Where the Wild Things Are. They take the form of giant furry monsters, for want of a better description, and Max befriends them. One of them, Carol, is just like Max, strong willed and prone to the odd tantrum or two. Max persuades them to let him be their king, but he soon finds that being a king is a bit harder than he first thought.

Now, technically I can’t fault this film, it’s beautifully shot with some excellent special effects used for the ’Wild Things’. My problem begins and ends with the character of Max, if you can’t identify with Max then the rest of it just falls apart I’m afraid. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was a fine performance from Max Records as Max; it’s just that the character didn’t resonate with me.

It’s a shame because I was really looking forward to watching this and I feel a bit let down by it. I grew up in the countryside, climbed trees, grazed my knees and did all the fun things children do, but at the end of the day I was always happy to go home. I guess that’s where I differ from Max; I never had a need for somewhere to escape to. But I digress; I cannot say if it is a good representation of the book, I’m sure there are others out there who can answer that. For me, a bit of a disappointment and so not recommended.

My score: 5.4/10

LINKS:
(RT = Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0386117/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/where_the_wild_things_are/
Official Site: http://wherethewildthingsare.warnerbros.com/dvd/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdb/vi3225158169/

Film Review: THE SOLOIST (2009)

Director: Joe Wright
Running time: 117 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12

UK release date: 25th September 2009

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 4th September 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I heard quite a few things about this film before seeing it, not all of it was good. Now I’ve watched it I can see why. It’s based on a true story from a book written by journalist Steve Lopez who is portrayed in the film by Robert Downey Jr. He has a column on the L.A. Times where he writes about characters he meets on the streets.

Out cycling one day, journalist Steve Lopez comes off his bicycle and ends up in hospital. Whilst recovering from his injuries he hears a violin being played. He eventually finds a down-and-out man playing a two-string violin. They get talking and the man, Nathaniel Ayers, tells him he went to Julliard, which is at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. Lopez checks up on Nathaniel’s story and discovers that he started there, but never graduated, his speciality was the cello. It is clear to Steve that Nathaniel is a schizophrenic, but he refuses to accept any help. After writing his first article, a reader sends Steve an old cello that she can no longer play due to rheumatism. Steve takes it to Nathaniel but tells him he cannot keep it on the street, instead he can play it at the LAMP homeless shelter. Allowing Nathaniel to play it one time in the street, Steve is really moved and realises just how good a musician he is and how much he loves to play. The film then goes on to tell us more about the backgrounds of both Nathaniel and Steve and how a friendship grows between them. How Nathaniel developed his love for music and how his schizophrenia affected his career. We also learn about the past relationship Steve had with his boss, Mary Weston. But I’ll end my short synopsis here, don’t want to give too much away.

As you can probably tell from my short synopsis not a lot really happens in this film, and that’s the problem with it. I found it very hard to gain any empathy for any of the characters and so, to me, it all felt a bit flat. The performances from both Jamie Foxx as Nathaniel Ayers and Robert Downey Jr. as Steve Lopez were fine, but the material just didn’t work. I should also give honourable mentions to; Catherine Keener as Mary Weston, Tom Hollander as Graham Claydon, Lisa Gay Hamilton as Jennifer Ayers and Nelsan Ellis as David Carter.

Over all this was quite a disappointment, I thought it would have been better than it was. The cinematography was fine, the performances were fine but it was all let down by a rather poorly put together script (IMO). So I’m afraid this was not a film for me and I can’t really recommend it to you.

My score: 5.3/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0821642/
Official Site: http://www.soloistmovie.com/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdb/vi3497984025/