Synecdoche=Lyric Poetry, or Epic?
Alls Quiet
They start off magnificently and wittily, and then degenerate into
madness. So does Synecdoche, but this time the madness is poetry.
Jesus it really is. There are so many things to write about in it, and
it's not really a film as much as a spiritual labor. It's uproariously
funny in the first third, funnier than any film I've seen in a long
time. Then it's so painful the pain is almost unwatchable.
Anyway, I know it's been discussed here before, so I'll just start off
with something mild. Why are all the women in the film given atavistic
names?
Alls Quiet
>
> I don't hate Charles Kaufmann films. I just come away marvelling at
> their empty cleverness. "Synecdoche" is -- as far as I'm concerned --
> the best of the bunch. Even so, there is something distant and non-
> involving. Kaufman makes films for voyeurs. He constatntly reminds you
> that you're watching.
Pople who fawn over any of his films are pretentious; I guess I hereby
become one. But this film--I couldn't take my eyes off of it--which is
my definition of whether a film is good/great.
Your point about his scripting for voyeurs is valid. Every film before
Synecdoche WAS empty *but* clever (all aching, ass-numbing,
interminable two-+ hours of empty, aching cleverness...). How I will
always remember the depressing winter day several years ago, suffering
through Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the realization I
paid to be mocked. At the beginning, Synecdoche seemed as if it would
descend into the same almost sadistic craziness.
And it DID descend into craziness. The only thing, this time, was the
dialogue was poetry, a case of a writer-in-spite-of-himself. I think
Kaufmann may have intended to mock his audience as with all his other
films, but ended up giving two hours of a cinematic epic poetry
reading, mad but genius.
Anyway, my question is unanswered, so I'll ask again and add a few
more (SPOILERS). I have my own answer to all but the first, but would
like to hear what others think:
1) Why the atavistic female names?
2) Why is Hazel's house on fire throughout the film?
3) The female lead who is the True Love is not sexually/socially
desirable until the very end. Why does Hazel split into two at that
point?
4) What is the significance of Tom Noonan's character and then Dianne
Weist's?
5) Why the dirigible?
6) What is the significance of the number 31Y (if any), and what
Jungian role do Ellen and climactically her mother fill?
Howard Brazee
<mut...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> I don't hate Charles Kaufmann films. I just come away marvelling at
>> their empty cleverness. "Synecdoche" is -- as far as I'm concerned --
>> the best of the bunch. Even so, there is something distant and non-
>> involving. Kaufman makes films for voyeurs. He constatntly reminds you
>> that you're watching.
>
>Pople who fawn over any of his films are pretentious; I guess I hereby
>become one. But this film--I couldn't take my eyes off of it--which is
>my definition of whether a film is good/great.
Why? Some people fawn over Kaufmann films, others fawn over Disney
films. Different tastes - are both groups pretentious?
--
"In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found,
than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace
to the legislature, and not to the executive department."
- James Madison
Alls Quiet
>
> Some people fawn over Kaufmann films, others fawn over Disney
> films. Different tastes - are both groups pretentious?
No.