sign in sign up
<<
Home , Being John Malkovich, Dianne Wiest, Emily Watson, John Malkovich, ParaNorman, Pierre Bismuth

12, 2013 (XXVII:12) , SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK (2008, 124 min)

Directed by Charlie Kaufman Written by Charlie Kaufman Produced by , Chatlie Kaufman, Sidney Kimmel Cinematography by Frederick Elmes Music by Jon Brion Production Design by Mark Friedberg Art Direction by Adam Stockhausen Set Decoration by Lydia Marks

Philip Seymour Hoffman...Caden Cotard ...Adele Lack Sadie Goldstein...Olive (4 years old) Tom Noonan...Sammy Barnathan and Why” (TV Movie), , and 2008 Synecdoche, New Michelle Williams...Claire Keen York. ...Hazel ...Madeleine Gravis SPIKE JONZE (Producer) (b. Adam Spiegel, October 22, 1969 in ...Maria Rockville, Maryland) has directed 39 and videos, including ...Tammy 2013 Her, 2012 Pretty Sweet, 2011 “Don't Play No Game That I ...Ellen Bascomb / Millicent Weems Can't Win” (Short), 2009 Where the Wild Things Are, 2009 “Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak” (TV CHARLIE KAUFMAN (Director, Writer, Producer) (b. Charles Movie documentary short), 2004 “Corporate ” (Video), Stewart Kaufman, November 19, 1958 in New York City, New 2003 “Tenacious D: The Complete Masterworks” (Video York) won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Writing in an documentary), 2002 Adaptation., 2002 “Björk: Volumen Plus” Original Screenplay for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Video short), 2000 “Beastie Boys: Video Anthology” (Video (2004), which he shared with and Pierre Bismuth documentary), 1999 Being , 1999 “An Intimate (story). He wrote 14 films and TV shows: 2013 “How and Why” Look Inside the Acting Process with Ice Cube” (Video (TV Movie, pre-production), Anomalisa (filming), 2008 documentary short), 1994 “Beastie Boys: Sabotage” (Video Synecdoche, New York, 2006 “Moral Orel” (TV Series), 2004 short), and 1994 “Ciao L.A.” (Video short). He has also Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2002 Confessions of a produced 25 films, videos, and documentaries, including 2013 Dangerous Mind, 2002 Adaptation., 2001 Human Nature, 1999 Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, 2012 Pretty Sweet, 2011 A , 1996-1997 “Ned and Stacey” (TV Tribute to Ryan Dunn, 2010 Jackass 3D, 2010 “Higglety Series), 1996 “The Dana Carvey Show” (TV Series, 8 episodes), Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life” (Video short), 1993 “The Trouble with Larry” (TV Series), 1992-1993 “The 2008 Synecdoche, New York, 2007 “Jackass 2.5” (Video Edge” (TV Series, 20 episodes), and 1991-1992 “Get a Life” (TV documentary), 2001 Human Nature, and 1997 “Mouse” (Video Series). In addition to writing, Kaufman has produced 7 films documentary short). He has also appeared in 17 films and TV and TV shows: 2008 Synecdoche, New York, 2004 Eternal shows, among them 2013 The Wolf of Wall Street, 2013 Jackass Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2002 Adaptation., 2001 Human Presents: Bad Grandpa, 2010-2012 “The Increasingly Poor Nature, 1999 Being John Malkovich, 1996-1997 “Ned and Decisions of Todd Margaret” (TV Series, 8 episodes), 2011 Stacey” (TV Series, 22 episodes), and 1995 “Misery Loves “Mourir auprès de toi” (Short), 2010 “The Vampire Attack” Company” (TV Series, 6 episodes). He also directed 2013 “How (Video short), 2009 Where the Wild Things Are, 1999 Three

Kaufman—SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK—2

Kings, 1999 Being John Malkovich, 1997 The Game, and 1993 ...Caden Cotard (b. July 23, 1967 Mi vida loca. in Fairport, New York) received the 2006 Academy Award for Best Performance by an in a Leading Role for Capote SIDNEY KIMMEL (Producer) has produced 43 films, including (2005). He has appeared in 62 films and shows, 2014 Walk of Shame, 2013 Brilliant, 2013 Parker, 2012 Gone, including 2015 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 2011 Moneyball, 2009 Adventureland, 2008 All God's Children (filming), 2014 God's Pocket (filming), 2014 The Hunger Can Dance, 2008 Management, 2008 Synecdoche, New York, Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (filming), 2013 The Hunger Games: 2007 The Kite Runner, 2007 Talk to Me, 2007 Death at a Catching Fire, 2012 The Master, 2011 Moneyball, 2009 The Funeral, 2006 Alpha Dog, 2005 Slow Burn, and 2000 Famous. Invention of Lying, 2008 Doubt, 2008 Synecdoche, New York, 2007 Charlie Wilson's War, 2007 Before the Devil Knows You're JON BRION (Music) (b. Jon Wright Brion, December 11, 1963 in Dead, 2006 Mission: Impossible III, 2005 Capote, 2005 Glen Ridge, New Jersey) has composed music for 20 films and Strangers with Candy, 2004 Along Came Polly, 2003 Cold TV shows, including 2012 This Is 40, 2012 ParaNorman, 2011 Mountain, 2002 25th Hour, 2002 Dragon, 2002 Punch- The Future, 2010 The Other Guys, 2008 Step Brothers, 2008 Drunk Love, 2000 Almost Famous, 1999 The Talented Mr. Synecdoche, New York, Ripley, 1999 Magnolia, 2006 The Break-Up, 1998 Patch Adams, 2004 I Heart 1998 The Big Lebowski, Huckabees, 2004 1997 Boogie Nights, Eternal Sunshine of the 1996 Hard Eight, 1994 Spotless Mind, 2002 Nobody's Fool, 1994 Punch-Drunk Love, When a Man Loves a 2000 “BTM2” (TV Woman, 1994 The Series, 12 episodes), Getaway, 1992 Scent of 1999 Magnolia, and a Woman, 1992 My New 1996 Hard Eight. Gun, and 1991 “Law & Order” (TV Series). FREDERICK ELMES (Cinematography) (b. CATHERINE November 4, 1946 in KEENER...Adele Lack Mountain Lakes, New (b. Catherine Ann Jersey) has been Keener, March 23, 1959 cinematographer for 49 in Miami, Florida) has films, among them 2013 Horns, 2012 A Late Quartet, 2010 A. appeared in 65 films and TV shows, including 2013 Captain Hitler, 2009 Brothers, 2009 A Dog Year, 2009 Bride Wars, 2008 Phillips, 2013 The Croods, 2012 A Late Quartet, 2010 Trust, Synecdoche, New York, 2006 The Namesake, 2005 Broken 2009 Where the Wild Things Are, 2009 The Soloist, 2008 A Flowers, 2004 Kinsey, 2003 Coffee and Cigarettes, 2003 Hulk, Summer in Genoa, 2008 Synecdoche, New York, 2008 Hamlet 2, 2001 Storytelling, 1999 Ride with the Devil, 1998 “The 2007 Into the Wild, 2005 Capote, 2005 The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Wedding” (TV Movie), 1997 The Ice Storm, 1995 Reckless, 1991 2005 The Interpreter, 2002 Full Frontal, 1999 Being John Night on Earth, 1990 Wild at Heart, 1988 Moonwalker, 1988 Malkovich, 1997 The Real Blonde, 1996 The Destiny of Marty Permanent Record, 1987 “Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago Fine, 1993 The Cemetery Club, 1992 “Seinfeld” (TV Series), 8” (TV Movie), 1987 Heaven, 1986 Allan Quatermain and the 1991 Johnny Suede, 1988-1989 “Knightwatch” (TV Series), Lost City of Gold, 1986 Blue Velvet, 1983 Citizen: The Political 1988 Survival Quest, 1987 Ohara (TV Series, 11 episodes), and Life of Allard K. Lowenstein, 1983 Valley Girl, 1977 Eraserhead, 1986 About Last Night... and 1970 Street Scenes. TOM NOONAN...Sammy Barnathan (b. April 12, 1951 in MARK FRIEDBERG (Production Design) has been the , Connecticut) has appeared in 73 films and TV production designer for 41 films and TV shows, including 2015 shows, among them 2011-2012 “Hell on Wheels” (TV Series, 17 Live by Night (pre-production), 2014 The Amazing Spider-Man 2, episodes), 2009-2011 “Damages” (TV Series, 17 episodes), 2011 2011 New Year's Eve, 2011 “Mildred Pierce” (TV Mini-Series, 5 “TV You Control: Bar Karma” (TV Series), 2009 The House of episodes), 2010 The Tempest, 2009 State of Play, 2009 the Devil, 2008 The Alphabet Killer, 2008 “Law & Order: Tenderness, 2008 Synecdoche, New York, 2007 Across the Special Victims Unit” (TV Series), 2008 Synecdoche, New York, Universe, 2007 The Darjeeling Limited, 2005 The Producers, 2006 Seraphim Falls, 2006 “Ice Cream Ants” (Short), 2003 2005 Broken Flowers, 2004 The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Madness and Genius, 2003 “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (TV 2003 Coffee and Cigarettes, 2002 , 2000 Series), 2003 The Egoists, 2002 “CSI: Crime Scene Pollock, 1999 Ride with the Devil, 1998 “Sex and the City” (TV Investigation” (TV Series), 2001 The Pledge, 2000 The Series), 1997 The Ice Storm, 1996 I'm Not Rappaport, 1996 Photographer, 1999 The Astronaut's Wife, 1996 “The X-Files” Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, 1993 The Ballad of Little Jo, 1992 (TV Series), 1993 Last Action Hero, 1989 Collision Course, In the Soup, 1991 “Walking the Dog” (Short), 1990 A Matter of 1986 Manhunter, 1986 F/X, 1985 The Man with One Red Shoe, Degrees, and 1988 Comedy's Dirtiest Dozen. and 1980 Heaven's Gate.

Kaufman—SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK—3

MICHELLE WILLIAMS...Claire Keen (b. Michelle Ingrid Washington Square, 1995 Georgia, 1995 Dolores Claiborne, Williams, September 9, 1980 in Kalispell, Montana) has 1994 Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, 1994 The Hudsucker appeared in 43 films and television shows, including 2013 Oz the Proxy, 1993 Short Cuts, 1992 Single White Female, 1991 Great and Powerful, 2013 “Cougar Town” (TV Series), 2011 My Backdraft, 1989 Last Exit to Brooklyn, 1988 Heart of Midnight, Week with Marilyn, 2010 Meek's Cutoff, 2010 Shutter Island, 1986 The Men's Club, 1983 Easy Money, 1982 Fast Times at 2009 “GREED, a New Fragrance by ” (Short), Ridgemont High, 1981 “The Killing of Randy Webster” (TV 2008 Synecdoche, New York, 2008 Deception, 2007 I'm Not Movie), 1981 Eyes of a Stranger, and 1976 The Spy Who Never There., 2005 , 2004 Land of Plenty, 2004 A Was. Hole in One, 1998-2003 “Dawson's Creek” (TV Series, 128 episodes), 2003 The Station Agent, 2001 Prozac Nation, 1999 EMILY WATSON...Tammy (b. Emily Anita Watson, January 14, Dick, 1997 A Thousand Acres, 1995 “Home Improvement” (TV 1967 in Islington, , England) has appeared in 43 films Series), 1993 “Baywatch” (TV Series). and television shows, among them 2013 The Book Thief, 2013 “The Politician's Husband” SAMANTHA (TV Mini-Series), 2013 MORTON...Hazel (b. Molly Moon: The Samantha-Jane Morton, Incredible Hypnotist (post- May 13, 1977 in production), 2013 Belle , (post-production), 2013 , “The Politician's Husband” England) has appeared in (post-production), 2013 44 films and TV shows, Little Boy (post- among them 2014 Miss production), 2013 Some Julie, 2013 Decoding Girl(s), 2012 Anna Annie Parker, 2002-2013 Karenina, 2011 War “Max and Ruby” (TV Horse, 2011 “Appropriate Series, 18 episodes), 2012 Adult”, 2010 Oranges and John Carter, 2008 Sunshine, 2010 Cemetery Synecdoche, New York, Junction, 2009 Within the 2007 Elizabeth: The Whirlwind, 2009 Cold Golden Age, 2007 Mister Souls, 2008 Synecdoche, Lonely, 2005 Lassie, 2004 The Libertine, 2002 In America, 2002 New York, 2008 “The Memory Keeper's Daughter”, 2008 Minority Report, 1999 Jesus' Son, 1999 , Fireflies in the Garden, 2007 The Water Horse, 2006 Miss 1997 Under the Skin, 1997 “Jane Eyre” (TV Movie), 1995-1996 Potter, 2006 Crusade in Jeans, 2005 Separate Lies, 2005 The “Band of Gold” (TV Series, 12 episodes), and 1991 “Boon” (TV Proposition, 2005 , 2005 Wah-Wah, 2004 The Life Series). and Death of , 2004 Boo, Zino & the Snurks, 2003 Blossoms & Blood (video short), 2002 Equilibrium, 2002 Red HOPE DAVIS...Madeleine Gravis (b. March 23, 1964 in Dragon, 2002 Punch-Drunk Love, 2001 , 2000 The Englewood, New Jersey) has appeared in 44 films and TV Luzhin Defence, 2000 Trixie, 1999 Angela's Ashes, 1999 Cradle shows, including 2012-2013 “The Newsroom” (TV Series), 2013 Will Rock, 1998 , 1997 The Boxer, 1997 “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (TV Series), 2012 Metroland, 1997 “The Mill on the Floss”, 1996 Breaking the Disconnect, 2011 Real Steel, 2011 “Mildred Pierce” (TV Mini- Waves, and 1994 “A Summer Day's Dream.” Series), 2009 “” (TV Series, 7 episodes), 2009 The Lodger, 2008 A Summer in Genoa, 2008 Synecdoche, New York, DIANNE WIEST...Ellen Bascomb / Millicent Weems 2007 Charlie Bartlett, 2006 The Hoax, 2006 Infamous, 2005 (b. March 28, 1948 in Kansas City, Missouri) won two Academy Proof, 2005 The Matador, 2003 American Splendor, 2002 The Awards, in 1995 for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Secret Lives of Dentists, 2002 , 2001 Hearts in (1994), and in 1987 for Best Actress in a Atlantis, 2000-2001 “Deadline” (TV Series, 13 episodes), 2000 Supporting Role for (1986). She has Joe Gould's Secret, 1999 Arlington Road, 1998 The Impostors, appeared in 54 films and television shows, including 2012 The 1997 The Myth of Fingerprints, 1996 Mr. Wrong, 1995 Kiss of Odd Life of Timothy Green, 2011 , 2010 Rabbit Death, 1990 Home Alone, and 1990 Flatliners. Hole, 2008-2009 “In Treatment” (TV Series, 17 episodes), 2008 Passengers, 2008 Synecdoche, New York, 2008 “The Return of JENNIFER JASON LEIGH...Maria (b. Jennifer Lee Morrow, Jezebel James” (TV Series), 2001-2002 “Law & Order: Special February 5, 1962 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California) Victims Unit” (TV Series), 2000-2002 “Law & Order” (TV has appeared in 86 films and TV shows, including 2013 Jake Series, 48 episodes), 2001 “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (TV Squared, 2013 Hateship Loveship, 2013 The Moment, 2013 Kill Series), 2000 “” (TV Mini-Series, 9 episodes), Your Darlings, 2012 “Revenge” (TV Series, 7 episodes), 2009- 1998 The Horse Whisperer, 1996 , 1995 Drunks, 2012 “Weeds” (TV Series, 16 episodes), 2008 Synecdoche, New 1994 Bullets Over Broadway, 1991 Little Man Tate, 1990 York, 2007 Margot at the Wedding, 2005 The Jacket, 2004 The , 1989 Cookie, 1988 Bright Lights, Big Machinist, 2002 Road to Perdition, 2001 The Quickie, 2001 The City, 1987 , 1987 , 1986 Hannah and Man Who Wasn't There, 1997 A Thousand Acres, 1997 Her Sisters, 1985 , 1983 Independence Kaufman—SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK—4

Day, 1982 I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can, 1980 It's My Turn, and career in Germany, taking their daughter with her. Everyday 1975 “Zalmen: or, The Madness of God” (TV Movie). reality begins to look a little surreal. Hazel, for instance, buys a house that is full of fire and smoke, a matter which she and the Philip French, in The Observer: seller take for granted. Then the desperate, unhinged Caden Schenectady in upstate New York is the hometown of receives one of those multimillion-dollar "genius grants" from Henry James's Daisy Miller and site of Union College, where the MacArthur Foundation that will permit him to release his Robert Redford and Barbra artistic dreams. But what Streisand meet as pre-war does he want to do? Well, the undergraduates in The Way answer is to discover his real We Were. It is also home to identity, to find himself as an troubled playwright Caden artist through the realisation Cotard (the always excellent of a gigantic project, the Philip Seymour Hoffman), theatrical equivalent of the hero of Synecdoche, New Great American Dream. York, the fascinating The at this directorial debut of Charlie point enters on metaphysical, Kaufman, author of such epistemological and philosophical and eschatological matters as psychological comedies as Caden purchases a giant New Being John Malkovich, York warehouse large Adaptation and Eternal enough to contain a sizable Sunshine of the Spotless airship (at one point a Mind. zeppelin flies over Caden is a recently popular first name in the States, Manhattan) and engages an army of to perform his work in possibly deriving from the Gaelic for "battle". Cotard's progress. He marries, separates, attends his parents' funerals, Syndrome, named after a 19th-century French neurologist, is a changes the subject of his magnum opus and reconstructs his life neuropsychiatric condition in which the patient believes he is in the warehouse, with another actor (Tom Noonan) playing him. dead, does not exist or is putrefying. He's getting old; after 17 years, the play is still not ready to come One of those grammatical terms we casually worked before an audience. By contrast, Caden's wife paints pictures so into scholarship papers as sixth-formers and later forgot, small you need jeweller's glasses to see them. synecdoche is a figure of speech in which the part stands in for Caden's existence and his play become coterminous, the the whole or the whole for a part. Should this film prove widely enormous set taking in both meanings of synecdoche. The movie popular (about as likely as The Satanic Verses becoming a set is at various times intriguing, funny, disturbing, eerie and text at a co-educational university in Riyadh), we may be faced occasionally irritating. Is life a dream as the Spanish playwrights with films called "Metonymy, Missouri", "Tmesis, Tennessee" thought? Is everyone the hero of their own drama and an extra in and "Litotes, Louisiana". everyone else's? Are we all sad Willy Lomans, doomed to Caden Cotard is an intellectual, a secular Jew, a failure? Is the only drama a short journey from birth to death hypochondriac in midlife crisis, much like 's Alvy over which we have no control? Singer in , the working title of which was 'Anhedonia', The movie explores ideas and conventions that became a psychological term for the condition of not being able to fashionable in 20th-century drama and fiction. There is Borges's experience pleasure from normal pleasurable activities. He sees fable about the map commissioned by a king that is the size of death and decay all around him as he directs a revival of Arthur the world itself, its fragments now scattered to the four corners. Miller's at a Schenectady theatre, There is, too, Edward Albee's play Tiny Alice, the subject of deliberately casting young actors as middle-aged characters and heated discussion in 1964, in which the set contains a large having Willy Loman crash his car on stage. model of the house in which the drama is enacted. One also The first thing the shambling, overweight Caden does recalls David Ely's SF novella Time Out, in which a team of US each morning is look at the obituary pages where scholars is called in to reconstruct the British Isles after a nuclear turns up in the opening sequence. An ER doctor, who's stitching holocaust. More recently, men play God in , a cut Caden's received in a bathroom accident, sends him to an while the funnier and slighter Groundhog Day touches on WB ophthalmologist, who passes him on to a neurologist. Very soon, Yeats's challenge: "The intellect of man is forced to choose/ he's plagued by boils and explaining to his four-year-old Perfection of the life or of the work." daughter the difference between "psychosis", which he may Anyway, this is a movie designed to provoke, entertain have, and its homophone "sycosis" (a bacterial infection of the and infuriate, that boldly goes into areas where few films from skin), which he does have. There's little sympathy at home from the English-speaking world nowadays dare penetrate. his painter wife (Catherine Keener), and Caden finds solace in Incidentally, talking of Star Trek, it's been brought to my the company of the theatre box-office clerk, Hazel (Samantha attention that the new voyage of USS Enterprise ends by Morton), whom he encourages to improve her quality of life by changing "no man" to "no one" in "where no man has gone reading Kafka. before". So far, so well observed and amusing. Then the movie takes off on another tack. Caden's wife decides to pursue her on Synecdoche, New York: Kaufman—SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK—5

I think you have to see Charlie Kaufman's "Synecdoche, we deal with projections of them created in our minds. But they New York" twice. I watched it the first time and knew it was a will be contrary and have wills of their own. Eventually new great film and that I had not mastered it. The second time projections of us are dealing with new projections of them. because I needed to. The third Sometimes versions of ourselves time because I will want to. It disagree. We succumb to will open to confused audiences temptation -- but, oh, father, what and live indefinitely. A lot of else was I gonna do? I feel like people these days don't even go hell. I repent. I'll do it again. to a movie once. There are Hold that trajectory in alternatives. It doesn't have to be mind and let it interact with age, , but we must discouragement, greater wisdom somehow dream. If we don't "go and more uncertainty. You will to the movies" in any form, our understand what "Synecdoche, minds wither and sicken. New York" is trying to say about This is a film with the the life of Caden Cotard and the richness of great fiction. Like lives in his lives. Charlie Suttree, the Cormac McCarthy Kaufman is one of the few truly novel I'm always mentioning, it's important writers to make not that you have to return to screenplays his medium. David understand it. It's that you have Mamet is another. That is not the to return to realize how fine it same as a great writer (Faulkner, really is. The surface may daunt Pinter, Cocteau) who writes you. The depths enfold you. The screenplays. Kaufman is writing whole reveals itself, and then in the upper reaches with you may return to it like a Bergman. Now for the first time talisman. he directs. Wow, is that ever not a It is obvious that he has "money review." Why will only one subject, the mind, and people hurry along to what they only one plot, how the mind expect to be trash, when they're negotiates with reality, fantasy, afraid of a film they think may hallucination, desire and dreams. be good? The subject of "Being John Malkovich." "Synecdoche, New York" is "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless nothing less than human life and Mind." "Adaptation." "Human how it works. Using a neurotic theater director from upstate New Nature." "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind." What else are they York, it encompasses every life and how it copes and fails. Think about? He is working in plain view. In one film, people go inside about it a little and, my god, it's about you. Whoever you are. the head of John Malkovich. In another, a writer has a twin who Here is how life is supposed to work. We come out of ourselves does what he cannot do. In another, a game show host is, or and unfold into the world. We try to realize our desires. We fold thinks he is, an international spy. In "Human Nature," a man back into ourselves, and then we die. "Synecdoche, New York" whose childhood was shaped by domineering parents trains white follows a life that ages from about 40 to 80 on that scale. Caden mice to sit down at a tiny table and always employ the right Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a theater director, with all silverware. Is behavior learned or enforced? of the hangups and self-pity, all the grandiosity and sniffles, all "Synecdoche, New York" is not a film about the theater, the arrogance and fear, typical of his job. In other words, he although it looks like one. A theater director is an ideal character could be me. He could be you. The job, the name, the race, the for representing the role Kaufman thinks we all play. The gender, the environment, all change. The human remains pretty magnificent sets, which stack independent rooms on top of one much the same. another, are the compartments we assign to our life's enterprises. Here is how it happens. We find something we want to The actors are the people in roles we cast from our point of view. do, if we are lucky, or something we need to do, if we are like Some of them play doubles assigned to do what there's not world most people. We use it as a way to obtain food, shelter, clothing, enough and time for. They have a way of acting independently, mates, comfort, a first folio of Shakespeare, model airplanes, in violation of instructions. They try to control their own American Girl dolls, a handful of rice, sex, solitude, a trip to projections. Meanwhile, the source of all this activity grows Venice, Nikes, drinking water, plastic surgery, child care, dogs, older and tired, sick and despairing. Is this real or a dream? The medicine, education, cars, spiritual solace -- whatever we think world is but a stage, and we are mere actors upon it. It's all a we need. To do this, we enact the role we call "me," trying to play. The play is real. brand ourselves as a person who can and should obtain these This has not been a conventional review. There is no things. need to name the characters, name the actors, assign adjectives to In the process, we place the people in our lives into their acting. Look at who is in this cast. You know what I think compartments and define how they should behave to our of them. This film must not have seemed strange to them. It's advantage. Because we cannot force them to follow our desires, Kaufman—SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK—6 what they do all day, especially waiting around for the director to What does the title mean? It means it's the title. Get make up his mind. over it.

ONLY TWO MORE IN THE FALL 2013 BUFFALO FILM SEMINARS XXVII: November 19 Pina 2011 November 26 Baz Luhrmann The Great Gatsby 2013

The online PDF files of these handouts have color images

COMING UP IN THE SPRING 2014 BUFFALO FILM SEMINARS XXVIII: January 28 Josef von Sternberg, Underworld, 1927, 81 minutes February 4 Jean Cocteau, Orpheus, 1950, 95min February 11 Kenji Mizoguchi, The Life of Oharu, 1952, 136 min February 18 Satyajit Ray, Charulata/The Lonely Wife, 1964, 119 minutes February 25 Metin Erksan, Dry Summer, 1964, 90 min March 4 Monte Hellman, Two-Lane Blacktop, 1971, 103 min March 11 John Cassavetes, Killing of a Chinese Bookie, 1976, 135 min Spring break March 17-22 March 25 Agnes Varda, Vagabond, 1985, 105 min April 1 Gabriell Axel, Babette’s Feast, 1987, 104min April 8 Louis Malle, Vanya on 42nd Street, 1994, 119 min April 15 Wes Anderson, The Royal Tenenbaums, 2001, 110 min April 22 , The Three Burials of Melquaides Estrada, 2005, 120 min April 29 José Padilha, Elite Squad, 2007, 115 min May 6 John Huston, The Dead, 1987 83 min

CONTACTS: ...email Diane Christian: [email protected] …email Bruce Jackson [email protected] ...for the series schedule, annotations, links and updates: http://buffalofilmseminars.com ...to subscribe to the weekly email informational notes, send an email to addto [email protected] ....for cast and crew info on any film: http://imdb.com/

The Buffalo Film Seminars are presented by the Market Arcade Film & Arts Center and State University of New York at Buffalo with support from the Robert and Patricia Colby Foundation and the Buffalo News