Synopsis
A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
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Cast
- Philip Seymour HoffmanCaden Cotard
- Samantha MortonHazel
- Jennifer Jason LeighMaria
- Michelle WilliamsClaire Keen
- Catherine KeenerAdele Lack
- Emily WatsonTammy
- Tom NoonanSammy Barnathan
- Sadie GoldsteinOlive (4 years old)
- Hope DavisMadeleine Gravis
- Dianne WiestEllen Bascomb / Millicent Weems
Recommendations
- 100
The New York Times
To say that Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York is one of the best films of the year or even one closest to my heart is such a pathetic response to its soaring ambition that I might as well pack it in right now. - 83
The A.V. Club
For this master of mindfuckery, Synecdoche, New York probably qualifies as a magnum opus, since it essentially multiplies "Adaptation" by an exponential factor and thus grows into a snarling, ungainly beast of self-reflexive absurdities. - 70
Village Voice
Like most of Kaufman's work as a writer, Synecdoche, New York is a head trip that time and again returns to a place of real human emotion--in this case, to the idea that no matter how brilliant we may be or think we are, we're all looking for a little guidance (or, yes, direction) in life. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
Will mesmerize some and mystify others, while many will be bored silly. It's not a dream, Kaufman says, but it has a dreamlike quality, and those won over by its otherworldly jigsaw puzzle of duplicated characters, multiple environments and shifting time frames will dissect it endlessly. - 70
Variety
A wildly ambitious and gravely serious contemplation of life, love, art, human decay and death, the film bears Kaufman’s scripting fingerprints in its structural trickery and multiplane storytelling. - 70
Los Angeles Times
Sprawling, awe-inspiring, heartbreaking, frustrating, hard-to-follow and achingly, achingly sad movie. - 63
Rolling Stone
Philip Seymour Hoffman creates a mesmerizing portrait of the artist as a young, old and middle-aged man. - 60
New York Daily News
Hoffman, Morton and Jon Brion's aching score somehow capture the all-too-human need to get things right. If you're in a certain frame of mind, those moments make up for all the stagecraft.
