Monday, January 04, 2010

Tops Is Synecdoche

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Roger Ebert named what he considers the 10 greatest films of the just-expired decade, and a contender for what would be on my own such list if I ever get around to such a thing topped it. That being Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York. Which was my favorite film of 2008. And here's my original review. Anyway, Roger has this to say of Synecdoche:

"It intends no less than to evoke the strategies we use to live our lives. After beginning my first viewing in confusion, I began to glimpse its purpose and by the end was eager to see it again, then once again, and I am not finished. Charlie Kaufman understands how I live my life, and I suppose his own, and I suspect most of us. Faced with the bewildering demands of time, space, emotion, morality, lust, greed, hope, dreams, dreads and faiths, we build compartments in our minds. It is a way of seeming sane."

Read the rest here. It's a really nice take on the film. I think I've seen Synecdoche four times now and it looks completely different to me every single time. It's an astonishing contraption, exploding with thoughts and emotions at war with each other from one sentence to the next. Just an awesome achievement.
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