Synecdoche, New York (R) ★★★

From Charlie Kaufman's spotless mind comes this fever pitch of a cinematic puzzle. You could quite possibly be enthralled --or not.

Story

Cooked up in the head of Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich) comes the movie in which he makes his directorial debut. Without Michel Gondry or Spike Jonze sifting through the maze this time, Kaufman himself weaves this crazy quilt with consummate skill. In other words Synecdoche, New York is just as successfully quirky, humane and head scratching as all the others in the Kaufman ouerve. To sum up the plot succinctly is impossible but it centers on a stage director and hypochondriac, Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who trades in his suburban life with wife Adele (Catherine Keener), daughter Olive (Sadie Goldstein) and regional theatrical work in Schenectady for a chance at Broadway. He puts together a cast (resembling those in his own dream world) and brings them to a Manhattan warehouse being designed as a replica of the city outside. As the world he is creating inside these walls expands so does the focus of his own life and relationships. As the years literally fly by he gets deeper into his theatrical self which soon starts to merge with his own increasingly pathetic reality.

Acting

Whatever you make of the tale Kaufman is telling here, the casting could not be better or more suited to the quirky material. Philip Seymour Hoffman offers up a tour-de-force and is simply superb playing all the tics and foibles of the deeply disturbed Caden. His early scenes in his "normal" home are wonderfully alive with all his phobias and hypochondria in view. Later, we literally watch this man disintegrate as his master creation overwhelms him. Hoffman seems to fully understand the mental trauma of a man running as far from his own realities as he possibly can. Catherine Keener, as always, is right on target as his wife Adele. She has a knack for taking what seems like tiny moments and making them define exactly who this woman is. Jennifer Jason Leigh, as a mentor to Caden's daughter, is always fascinating to watch and plays Maria with an ounce of irony. Tom Noonan, playing the actor portraying Caden in the play, is the perfect doppelganger and delightfully adds to Caden's confused state. The all-pro trio of Michelle Williams as Caden's new wife Claire; Samantha Morton as the irresistible assistant Hazel; and Hope Davis as Caden's self-absorbed therapist add greatly to the merry mix.

Direction

It's nice to watch Charlie Kaufman seize control of his own work. In this instance, he's really the only one who can deliver us his Fellini-esque vision. Centering it all on the theatrical director's weird universe, Synecdoche does seem like it might be Kaufman's own take on Fellini's 8 ½ or even Woody Allen's paean to that film, Stardust Memories. Let's just say, we know most of it must exist somewhere inside Kaufman. Early domestic scenes could have been played flat but the novice director moves the camera around skillfully enough to make us immediately engaged in Caden's world. Second half of the film, set in the phantasmagoric warehouse, is a stunning tapestry of scenes from Kaufman's singularly fertile imagination. It's nice to note he's well equipped with the basic tools a director needs for this type of challenging material. Overall, his film is a surprising, confounding visual feast -- a dream/nightmare come to life and then spinning out of control.

Bottom Line

Hollywood.com rated this film 3 stars.