MOVIE REVIEW: SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK

Viewers not deterred by the finicky, unpronouncable title of Synecdoche, New York will find a film about a play, that is not really about a play at all. Writer-Director Charlie Kaufman, in his first turn as a full-blown auteur, presents the story of a chronically sick theatre director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who is attempting to stage an “uncompromising, honest” work of art. This leads into familiar Kaufman territory – the relationship between desire, art, truth and dreams.  Obliquely, the film also asks why we need to watch dramatised versions of other people’s lives in order to make sense of our own. It’s a great concept, but the execution is awry.  Still, the film is worth sitting through just for Philip Seymour Hoffman’s fine performance and composer Jon Brion’s gorgeous musical score.