Synecdoche, New York Review

Synecdoche, New York (2008): A Film by Charlie Kaufman

Charlie Kaufman, the scribe of such refreshing films as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "Adaptation," and "Being John Malkovich," can add another incredibly impressive work to his resume. Whether or not "Synecdoche, New York" will be considered his greatest masterpiece is arguable, but I would like to argue for it.

Looking at Kaufman's overall oeuvre, it can be noted that all of his films have to do with the identity, memories, and such horrors as loneliness, death, or more appropriately, dying lonely. "Synecdoche" follows in the footsteps of Kaufman's previous works by introducing us to Caden Cotard, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Caden is suffering from some sort of disease that doctors cannot identify, a disease in which the only thing that is known is that he will die. The women he loves eventually leave him because of his depression, his sickness, and his inability to remain faithful to those he is with. Do these women love him or pity him so much as to sleep with him?

From my description, Caden may sound like an unenjoyable, depressing main character. He absolutely is. The key to the character, though, is that you can identify with him, which remains of upmost importance to his likeability. We do pity him, yes. Does that mean we also pity ourselves? Possibly. We all want to be loved, we all want someone to "complete" us, we all want to be good people and satisfy everyone around us. So does Caden.

The story, in short, as to not ruin any of the inventiveness of it or make a futile attempt at the labarynthine plot, is as follows: Caden is awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant and attempts to stage a play in an enormous warehouse in New York City. Inside the warehouse, a replica of New York City is built. The problem is, if there is a replica of New York City in the real warehouse, a replica of the warehouse must also be built, and a replica of that replica, and so on. Caden has actors and actresses play people he knows and interacts with, namely his wives, mistresses, etc. Once again, the problem here is that he must then find actors and actresses to play the actors and actresses playing real people in his life, and so on, and so on, and so on. Get it?

I read in an interview that Kaufman was originally slated to write a horror movie, which eventually developed into this script. Though it would not be traditionally labeled a horror movie, it is incredibly frightening in its exploration of loneliness, isolation, imminence of death, and the nature of identity. The movie provides plenty of humor, most especially from the wonderful performances, but it's not likely to have you clinching your sides as much as chuckling to yourself while you squirm at the uneasy truthfulness of it all. The last few scenes in the movie I will have to watch again to determine exactly what I saw, but the very final scene in the movie is unlike anything else you will see in the movies today. Guaranteed.

Kaufman's movies were never meant to be understood or dissected in a solitary viewing. Watch "Eternal Sunshine" a few more times to obtain the total emotional resonance. Kaufman's directorial debut, "Synecdoche, New York," I suspect, is no different. I have not yet come across a screenwriter with such talent, wit, and human understanding as Charlie Kaufman. He certainly has given David Mamet a run for his money, and with "Synecdoche, New York," I suspect Kaufman finally proves that he is the single most talanted screenwriter working in Hollywood today.

Rating: 4/4 stars

Brand Upon the Brain! Review

DVD Review
Brand Upon the Brain! (2006): A Film by Guy Maddin

The primary function of the movies is to entertain, is it not? This would be where the term "the entertainment industry" is derived from.

"Brand Upon the Brain!," Maddin's homage to the silent film area, is nauseating. I have never been an enormous fan of the abstractness or pretentiousness of avant-garde films such as this. I believe that every film should maintain the capacity to entertain, make us think, and present us with something new every time. Well, one out of three ain't bad. This is my first time seeing a Guy Maddin film. I pray it is not considered his magnum opus.

The film follows around our hero, named (what else?) Guy Maddin. Guy and a group of orphans live in a lighthouse and are constantly watched over by their dictatorial and overbearing mother. Meanwhile, Guy's father, who is elusive and mysterious, works on strange experiments in his basement.

The plot somehow introduces sibling sleuths by the name of "The Lightbulb Kids" and several other quirks, but story doesn't matter here as much as style does.

The frantic editing and pace contribute to the nauseousness of the film. A barrage of sounds and sights (mostly sights) frustrate to an unbearable extent. Characters we care about, or are at least interested in, are an integral part of a successful film. "Brand Upon the Brain!" creates neither. The only noteworthy concept the film maintains is that I can honestly say I have never, ever seen another film like this one.

Perhaps I do not understand avant-garde films, as I seem to be in the minority in my judgement of the film. The film has recieved overwhelmingly positive reactions from critics. That a film like this could ever get made, with such abstract execution, story, and ideas, amazes me. Don't get me wrong - I am glad it exists, and I hope that one day I will return to it to try my best to understand it. For now, however, it remains nothing more than a series of loathsome Freudian lectures set to classical music, narrated by Isabella Rossellini.

Rating: 0.5/4 stars

Children of Men Review

DVD Review
Children of Men (2006): A Film by Alfonso Cuaron

Very few times, if ever, does a film come along that leaves you breathless, pensive, and enamored all in one fell swoop. There are scenes so real, so visceral, in "Children of Men," that you have to wonder if you aren't watching a documentary.

Although we know we're not, as the film takes place in 2027, less than twenty years into the future. This is not the future we see in Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" or Steven Speilberg's "Minority Report," with sleek cars with artificial intelligence, robots, or billboards that recognize you by name. No, Cuaron's future is one where everything looks essentially the same, but the places more beat-up, the people more beat-down.

In the first scene of the film, we find that the yongest child in the world, "Baby Diego," has just been killed for not signing an autograph. He was eighteen years old. Everyone in London mourns for him except for our hero, Theo Faron (Clive Owen). Theo is a depressed alcoholic, although the film never makes him into a cliche; we understand why he feels the way he does and why he is such a tortured soul. He finds no refuge in the world other than visiting his eccentric friend Jasper (Michael Caine) who lives in a home hidden away deep in the woods. Without Jasper, Theo claims he would "have nothing to look forward to."

The government, seeing society become a ticking time bomb to extinction ("Last one to die, please turn out the light"), decides that people should be able to decide when they should "pass on." They distribute suicide kids called "Quietus" that allows the user to die quickly and painlessly. The government deports illegal immigrants, packing them into cages, abusing them, killing them, and starving them. We put ourselves in Theo's place and can understand how someone can be so distraught and hopeless. We wonder: would society even function properly if put into this position? Would people continue to go to their jobs, to pay for food, clothes, and shelter? Would the law even uphold? Because as Jasper points out in one poignant scene: "Why bother, if fate's going to make its own choices?"

One day, as Theo is walking in the city, he is kidnapped by the terrorist group The Fishes, who demand equal rights for all immigrants in Britain. The leader of their group is Theo's ex-wife, Julian (Julianne Moore). She asks him to get transit papers so that they can transport a woman, Kee, across Britain. Why or where, Theo doesn't care - he needs the money that is being offered to him for retrieving the papers from his cousin who has a governmental position.

As we discover, and as the viewer could probably suspect, Kee is pregnant with the first baby in nearly twenty years. Some insist that the child recieve proper care at The Human Project, an organization whose exsitence is unknown, but is rumored to be the only group who can properly care for a baby. The Fishes, however, want to use the child for political leverage. One night, while staying at a safehouse owned by The Fishes, Theo, Kee, and Kee's caretaker/midwife Miriam flee. What follows is an extraordinary series of scenes in which Theo, Kee, and Miriam flee from danger, and through a series of dangerous encounters, attempt to get to the buoy where the rescue boat from The Human Project could be awaiting the group - if The Human Project does indeed exist.

The most extraordinary tracking shot I have ever seen comprises one of the final few scenes of the film, following Theo across a battlefield, up a building, and right back down. As we follow him, tanks explode, bullets fly, explosions are caused, and people are killed - all in one astonishing, remarkable, single take. There are several other technically baffling tracking shots in "Children of Men," including a single take in which the car Theo is riding in is set ablaze, the front windshield shot through, and a gunman thrown from his motorcycle, comprising a roughly eight-minute long take. And it's not even the longest one in the film.

The performances, particularly those of Clive Owen and Chiwetel Ejiofor, are remarkable. I couldn't help but notice that in one scene, in which Theo is about to cross a bullet-ridden battlefield, Clive Owen's fingers begin to twitch nervously just before he sprints across the field. His face, his eyes, show such disappointment, such hopelessness, such sadness, that Theo becomes such a real and vulnerable character to us. Such minor touches add up to such a brilliant performance from one of the best actors working today.

The mise-en-scene is incredible; at several points during the film I had to remind myself of the fact that I was watching fiction. Every detail, every building, every car, every person is given such a meticulous and specific look that we feel as if we are watching reality. Cuaron's choice to use lengthy tracking shots add to this overall effect. Such realism is required in a film such as this, in which the place is just as important as the people, and Cuaron couldn't have done a better job at creating his own world so frightening in its concept. We hope that we never have to experience this horror ourselves.

Rating: 4/4 stars

Burn After Reading Review

Burn After Reading (2008): A Film by Joel and Ethan Coen

"Burn After Reading" is peculiar, in the Coen brothers sort of way, in that we don't care so much about the characters as we do about the story. "Burn After Reading," starring such A-listers as John Malkovich, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, and the always marvelous Tilda Swinton, presents us with a set of characters so unrelatable, so disillusioned, and so strange that they inhabit their own world where everyone is so air-headed that you pray this movie isn't based on a true story.

The plot, although basic and cliche upon first glance, has so many flips, flops, relationships formed, relationships broken, and deaths that it is seems almost fresh, although it could use some tightening. Summed up as simply as possible, Pitt and McDormand play Chad Feldheimer and Linda Litzke, two incompetent gym employees who stumble upon a disc full of "top-secret" CIA information belonging to Osbourne Cox (Malkovich). Clooney plays Harry Pfarrer, the bumbling paranoid sleeping with Cox's wife (Swinton). Chad and Linda attempt to blackmail Cox so that Linda can pay for a pricy plastic surgery operation, and as they say, all hell breaks loose. J.K. Simmons, as a CIA Superior, plays what is undoubtedly the most lucid and comedic of all of the characters, watching this group scramble over documents which he believes are "no biggie." The CIA Superior is just as fascinated with these fools as the audience is. The film is notable in the fact that it does contain wonderful performances from all of the leading members of its cast, and often times shatters typecasting so beautifully that we hope to see these fine actors and actresses inhabit similar roles once again. Seeing Clooney play a character other than a forty something slick is refreshing, and Pitt is excellent playing against cast in the role of the dumbest character in the movie, the gum-chewing, water-bottle-sipping Chad.

As the lives of the characters intersect, although unlikely, we are fascinated not by what will happen to the characters, but as to how the story will conclude itself. After one of the deaths in the film, in fact, I found myself laughing at the irony of it all. There are no protagonists or antagonists, no hero or villain, no melodrama, even a climax is absent - the movie is not much more than watching to see who survives until the final act. There are scenes of surprising tension - I can't help but think of a surprisingly suspenseful scene in which Chad hides in the closet from Harry. Although few survive, the film adheres to the Coen brothers' philosophy that where there is comedy, there is also bloodshed. While I do agree with critics who say the film ends somewhat abruptly, the movie would have overstayed its welcome had it been another fifteen minutes long.

The Coen brothers have a knack for what they do. They have ultimate reign over the area of dark comedy, and will hold it forever in my heart, and in the books. Spike Lee recently criticized the brothers for "treating life as a joke": "It's like, 'Look how they killed that guy! Look how blood squirts out the side of his head!'" Shame on Mr. Lee. The Coen brothers know what they can do, and they do it better than anyone else, managing to keep it exciting and new every single time without disappointing. Not only that, but they have proven that they can do what no one else thought they could do, beautifully crafting western noir in "No Country for Old Men". That says a lot more for them than the pretentious words coming from the mouth of Spike Lee.

Rating: 3/4 stars