Charlie is one of the Kaufman brothers who write these highly original and very strange filmscripts (think of “Adaptation” or “Being John Malkovich”). Both also direct films themselves, that is to say, so far this is Charlie’s only film. “Synecdoche, New York” is not as strange as the two mentioned films, but Kaufman definately came up with another set of briliant filmographic findings. We follow Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hofman), an innovatory theatre director. His personal life does not entirely go as he wishes and life and his plays start to run through eachother. Kaufman did much better than the currently popular ‘what is true, what is not’ films, but as the film continues the number of characters becomes confusing, especially because there are chronological leaps. This does not take down the film though, the viewer just has to keep attention. The atmosphere of the film is quite depressive, following its main character. There are a few laughs here and there, but overall this film will not make you feel better. Summerising I can say that “Synecdoche” is an original film, quite good too, but not great.
