Synecdoche, New York (2008) - Kaufman's depressing, pretentious debut, eerily tied to Hoffman's tragic real-life end

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A bizarre, manipulated version of a Manhattan cityscape - with a Zeppelin floating through its overcrowded sky, - makes up this interest-building poster for Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York

New York theater director Caden experiences that his wife leaves him to go to Berlin with their daughter. He ventures on new relationships and a mammoth play set in a warehouse, which he works on for 40 years!

Synecdoche, New York is written and directed by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich (1999, screenwriter)) in his directorial debut.
The debacle of Synecdoche, New York starts with Philip Seymour Hoffman's (Red Dragon (2002)) insufferably anguished performance as Caden, which in an uncanny way presages the great actor's own real-life drug-fueled death in 2014: Caden is staging Death of a Salesman, which is the devastating play that Hoffman was actually acting in, when he let his demons get the best of him, resulting is his drug-fueled death in 2014. Furthermore Caden's therapist in Synecdoche, New York asks him, why he killed himself: "I don't know", he answers. Hoffman's lead character is also a hypochondriac, highly involved in his own bowel movements and seemingly incapable of experiencing joy.
Synecdoche, New York is a long row of absurdist scenes, (Samantha Morton (Sweet and Lowdown (1999)) lives in a burning house, for instance), where actors overtake each others' roles, - which is understandably confusing, - while audiences like me will find themselves either zoning out or downright falling asleep.
An impressive amount of work has been done to erect this blown-up pile of ideas, which never becomes a satisfying whole. It is a film about death and death anxiety, essentially, but Kaufman breaks his nose on Synecdoche, New York and looks pretentious.

Related posts:

Charlie Kaufman: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Anomalisa (2015) or, Depressed Adult Male

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
Adaptation (2002) or, Charlie Kaufman's Fictional Life (writer)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) or, The Gong Show Killer (writer)
Being John Malkovich (1999) - Jonze, Kaufman and Malkovich's great triumph (writer)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 4.3 mil. $
= Box office disaster (returned 0.21 times its cost)
[Synecdoche, New York premiered 23 May (Cannes Film Festival, France, in competition) and runs 123 minutes. Kaufman started the project with past collaborator Spike Jonze as an untraditional horror film project, which drew on the things that scare the two artists. The title is a play on Schenectady, New York, where much of the film is set. Shooting took place in New York from May - August 2007. The film opened #30 to a 172k $ first weekend in 9 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #21 and in 119 theaters, grossing 3 mil. $ (69.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 875k $ (20.3 %) and Italy with 187k $ (4.3 %). The film won 2/3 Independent Spirit nominations among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 5 notches higher than this one. He later made it his #1 film of the 00's, and even said it was a strong contender for his all-time Top 10 list. Kaufman returned with How and Why (2014, TV movie) and theatrically with Anomalisa (2015). Hoffman returned in Doubt (2008); Morton in The Daisy Chain (2008); Michelle Williams (Suite Francaise (2014)) in Mammut (2009); Catherine Keener (The Real Blonde (1997)) in A Summer in Genoa (2008). Synecdoche, New York is fresh at 68 % with a 6.75/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Synecdoche, New York?

Anomalisa (2015) or, Depressed Adult Male

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Lead character Michael Stone looks himself in the mirror dejectedly on this poster for Duke Johnson and Charlie Kaufman's Anomalisa

Our protagonist Michael is a guru for the service industry and comes to Cincinnati to give a lecture but finds himself in a mentally disturbed state.

Anomalisa is an existential romance-drama written by Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York (2008)), based on his same-titled 2005 play, and co-directed by Kaufman and Duke Johnson (Mary Shelley's Frankenhole (2010-12)). It is made in fascinating, almost masochistically time-consuming stop-motion animation, which is carried out in very detailed and vivid fashion.
The story of Anomalisa is relentlessly downbeat; the theme of alienation dominates everything; the lighting, Michael's sudden infatuation with Lisa, a woman he meets in the hotel, and the day after. It takes place in a dispiriting tone of near futility in any kind of human relation, which is the feeling that encapsulates the overall very melancholic Anomalisa. It doesn't indicate that Kaufman has gotten any better, or lighter, mentally speaking.
Ultimately a question of temperament, taste and tolerance will decide whether you'll love Anomalisa to death or mostly shrug it off like a miserable cold, as was the way I more or less felt about it.

Related posts:

Charlie Kaufman: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Adaptation (2002) or, Charlie Kaufman's Fictional Life (writer)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) or, The Gong Show Killer (writer)
Being John Malkovich (1999) - Jonze, Kaufman and Malkovich's great triumph (writer)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 8 mil. $
Box office: 5.6 mil. $
= Huge flop
[Anomalisa premiered 4 September (Telluride Film Festival, USA) and runs 90 minutes. In the play, David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tom Noonan also played the parts and sat on different parts of the stage and didn't move, only interacting through dialog. The film version should be identical, only different in terms of its media and that the action actually takes place. The film started as a short film that got off as a Kickstarter campaign that gathered 400k $, enabling funding for it as a feature to come together. The puppets were created with a 3D printer, and production lasted for two years. Paramount bought the worldwide distribution rights after the film's Toronto screening. It opened #34 in 4 theaters to a 135k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked #18 in 573 theaters and grossed 3.7 mil. $ (66.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 321k $ (5.7 %) and France with 167k $ (3 %). The film was nominated for the Best Animation Oscar as the first R-rated animation to ever achieve this, but lost to masterpiece Inside Out. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, 4 Independent Spirit Awards, and was the first animation to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival. Anomalisa is certified fresh at 92 % with a 8.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Anomalisa?

Being John Malkovich (1999) - Jonze, Kaufman and Malkovich's great triumph

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+ Best Movie of the Year

+ Best American Movie of the Year + Best Actress' Breakthrough of the Year: Catherine Keener + Best Dramedy of the Year + Best Fantasy Comedy of the Year + Most Undeserved Flop of the Year

 

How would you like to be a world-renowned actor? That is the possibility that presents itself on this praise-filled poster for Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich

We meet a very nerdy couple: The man works at the 7½th floor of a building as an archive clerk, even though he really is a puppeteer. Here he locates a portal into the brain of famous actor John Malkovich. This amazing discovery leads to a whole  bunch of things.

 

Being John Malkovich is written by Charlie Kaufman's (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)) and directed by debuting Marylander master filmmaker Spike Jonze (Her (2013)).

Kaufman's writing style blends Kafkaesque absurdism and American cinematic virtues such as neurotic, full and original characters with the concept of celebrity in what arguably remains his and Jonze's best work to date. The many eccentric, original and often funny or thought-provoking ideas that are somehow garbled coherently together in Being John Malkovich is the film's strongest triumph.
Former music video maverick Jonze captures the dark humor, drama and developments of the story excellently and relays them with visually creative exuberance (cinematography by Lance Acord (Marie Antoinette (2006))) that matches the soaring script.
Co-starring in the film, Catherine Keener (The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)), Cameron Diaz (There's Something About Mary (1998)), John Cusack (High Fidelity (2000)) and John Malkovich (In the Line of Fire (1993)) himself are all four just wonderful.
Especially the idea of desire as a living thing in itself was very interesting to me, but watch this movie for yourself and you'll likely catch things from it that the person/s next to you might not even think about. It is a rich experience. Being John Malkovich is totally unusual, extraordinarily conceived and carried out; full of weighty ideas and laughs, a true masterpiece.

 

Related posts:

 

Spike Jonze: The day after ... The Oscars 2014

Her (2013) - Jonze's disheartening hipster sci-fi romance 

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Top 10: Best films about filmmaking 

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Adaptation (2002) or, Charlie Kaufman's Fictional Life 

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Top 10: Best fantasy movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 13 mil. $
Box office: 32.3 mil. $
= Minor flop (returned 2.48 times its cost)

[Being John Malkovich premiered 2 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 113 minutes. The script was written in 1994 and got to Jonze through his father-in-law Francis Ford Coppola. Malkovich reportedly liked the script but tried to have it focus on another star actor than himself, with him instead producing the film, until he eventually accepted to star in it. Kaufman and Jonze reportedly wanted Malkovich due to his mystic quality, and because there is a humorous effect in repeating his name over and over again. Shooting took place from July - September 1998 in England, New Jersey and California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #17 to a 637k $ first weekend in 25 theaters in North America, grossing 22.8 mil. $ (70.6 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning none. It lost Best Supporting Actress (Keener) to Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted, Director to Sam Mendes for American Beauty and Original Script to Alan Ball for American Beauty. It won 1/3 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for a César award, 4 Golden Globes, won 2/3 Independent Spirit award nominations and won a National Board of Review award, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Jonze returned with 10 videos, mainly music videos, prior to his theatrical return with Adaptation. (2002). Cusack returned in High Fidelity (2000); Diaz in Any Given Sunday (1999); Keener in Simpatico (1999); and Malkovich in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). Being John Malkovich is certified fresh at 94 % with an 8.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Being John Malkovich?

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) or, The Gong Show Killer

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Big star names and a fired-up Sam Rockwell in a tuxedo adorn this stylized poster for George Clooney's Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Chuck Barris is an entrepreneurial sweet-talker, who becomes a television icon with The Dating Game and other game shows, which he creates and hosts in the late 1960s, while at the same time getting recruited as a CIA hitman.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is George Clooney's (The Monuments Men (2014)) debut as director, and it's a film based on game show creator Chuck Barris' (You and Me, Babe (1974)) same-titled 1984 memoir in which he purports to have also secretly been a CIA contract killer of more than 30 individuals. The CIA have (obviously) denied any connections between them and Barris, who reportedly admitted that it was a lie around the time of the book's publication. But his colorful story flew around Hollywood for years, and Clooney's own father was a game show host in the same period that Barris took new ground with different popular game shows.
Confessions is an entertaining film to watch: Sam Rockwell (Moon (2009)) is charismatic in the lead; Clooney himself is good as his recruiting CIA agent; Drew Barrymore (Donnie Darko (2001)) is incredibly sweet and inspires much commiseration as Barris' neglected girlfriend, and in cameos and bit parts you'll see Michael Cera (How to Be a Latin Lover (2017)) as a boy-stage Barris, Maggie Gyllenhaal (Mona Lisa Smile (2003)) and Clooney's a-list pals Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)) and Matt Damon (True Grit (2010)). The film is cut in a suave editing style and photographed (by Newton Thomas Siegel (Keep Right (2004, short))) and color-edited nicely, enhancing different things in different time periods, which go from the 1950s and onwards. The humor is dry, and the film thematically revolves around the overlaps between reality and fiction and how they affect relationships, love and sex, touching on issues of disillusion, materialism, and the flexibility of the mind.
The film does have its problems: Its use of narration, - both by an aged version of Barris in Rockwell's form and in the form of several seemingly real people from Barris' life in B/W inserts, - are too sprawling and confusing. A simple text card by the beginning of the movie about the uses of these would have been welcomed, although it is likely Clooney's ambition to make us doubtful of the veracity of the different accounts. SPOILER And in the case of the old Rockwell-Barris, who ends the film with his stark (and yet darkly humorous) nihilism, it is unclear where this apathy in the character stems from, and that is really a worse problem than the talking heads confusion: Why exactly is he so depressed? He still has numerous successful shows, is a successful secret agent, - who's also still alive, - and his girlfriend even keeps accepting his dishonesty. A few other things irritate: A title text in such tiny letters that you'll have to pause the DVD and creep up close to your TV to read it. Repeated use of classical music, which seems forced and a clichéd way of trying to 'lift up' the film.
Instead the film could have been if it looked deeper at the man's paranoia, his resistance to tie himself down, or his later years and apathy. Or why his particularly flexible mind might be termed 'dangerous'; after all Barris seems a very sympathetic killer, and never actually dangerous in the film. It jumps a little too friskingly from one conflict point to the next without getting much if any realization out of any of them.
The script is by great screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation. (2002)), who later criticized Clooney for changing it and keeping him out of the filmmaking process.

Related posts:

George Clooney: Hail, Caesar! (2016) - The Coen brothers serve a whimsical, flashy letdown (starring actor)
The Monuments Men (2014) or, George Clooney's The Lecture (co-writer/director/starring actor) 
Gravity (2013) or, Survival in Space: The Ride (starring actor)
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess 
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The Descendants (2011) - Payne and Clooney score with a Hawaiian story of heartbreak, loss and family (starring actor) 
The American (2010) - Corbijn and Clooney's paper-thin, boring, pretentious hitman outing (starring actor) 
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) - Anderson's technically, visually admirable but a bit tiring animation (starring voice actor)
Burn After Reading (2008) or, Idiocy 2008 (starring actor) 
Ocean's Twelve (2004) - Soderbergh returns with jumbled, glossy heist comedy sequel (starring actor) 
Solaris (2002) - A suffering space question mark (starring actor) 
From Dusk till Dawn (1996) - Tarantino, Rodriguez and chums' enjoyable Mexico vampire extravaganza (actor)

Watch a 2-minute clip from the film here

Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 33 mil. $
= Big flop
[Confessions of a Dangerous Mind premiered 11 December (Hollywood, California) and runs 113 minutes. Development had already begun in the late 1980s, when the rights to Barris' memoir were sold. Several big names were attached at different points: Curtis Hanson, Sean Penn, P.J. Hogan, Mike Myers, Sam Mendes, David Fincher, Darren Aronofsky, Brian De Palma, Edward Norton, Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, Ben Stiller, Bryan Singer and Johnny Depp. Clooney negotiated Barrymore and Julia Roberts' (Notting Hill (1999)) salaries down and bartered with Miramax to be able to cast Rockwell and have final-cut privilege. Shooting took place in Montréal, Québec, Orlando, Florida, Arizona, California and Mexico from January - April 2002. The film opened #47 to an 87k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #8 and in 1,776 theaters (different weeks) grossing 16 mil. $ (48.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy with 2.9 mil. $ (8.8 %) and Japan with 2.6 mil. $ (7.9 %). The poor gross was not helped much by the home video market, reportedly, were sales were also "poor". Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to two notches higher than this one. It won a prize at the Berlin International Film Festival as well as 2 National Board of Review awards. Clooney returned as a director with Unscripted (2005, TV-series) and theatrically with Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005). Barrymore returned in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003); Roberts in Mona Lisa Smile (2003), and Rockwell in Matchstick Men (2003). Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is certified fresh at 79 % with a 7.16/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind?

Adaptation (2002) or, Charlie Kaufman's Fictional Life

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+ Best Adaptation of the Year + Most Undeserved Flop of the Year

Nicholas Cage's head is turned into a broken pot for an orchid flower on this wonderful poster for Spike Jonze's Adaptation

This movie will especially appeal to writers and/or filmmakers, but it will most likely also delight any all all open, intelligent, creative minds.  

Famed screenwriter Charlie Kaufman finds it very difficult if not impossible to adapt Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief for the big screen, which he has been hired to do. He spars with his conversely extroverted twin brother Donald Kaufman for advice and finally decides that he has to visit Orlean. 

Adaptation is unusual and a meta-film because it is in fact written by Charlie Kaufman (Anomalisa (2015)), who wrote the film like this precisely because he found the task of adapting Susan Orlean's (Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend (2011)) 1998 non-fiction novel The Orchid Thief impossible. So the story is partly autobiographical. It is also an inventive work of fiction; among other things the twin brother character Donald is a creation for the film, just as the dramatic developments involving Orlean and the orchid thief are fantasy.
Of course Adaptation is in a way a very narcissistic story, but it is written with such rare wit and writer's insight, and acted so marvelously, - with stellar performances from Nicolas Cage (8mm (1999)), Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia! (2008)) and an Oscar-winning Chris Cooper (Miami Vice (1988), TV-series) among others, - that it achieves true greatness. Marylander master filmmaker Spike Jonze's (Being John Malkovich (1999)) direction of the film, which is only his second, is creative and refreshing, and the 'evolution of life' sequence (by Digital Domain) in the beginning is something that most people who've seen Adaptation also remember from it.
Adaptation is concept-oriented, post-modernist, interested in existentialism and very funny. Brian Cox's (L.I.E. (2001)) part as real-life script guru Robert McKee is especially humorous. Adaptation is the epitome of a must-see.

Related posts:

Spike Jonze: The day after ... The Oscars 2014 

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
Being John Malkovich (1999) - Jonze, Kaufman and Malkovich's great triumph (also with Kaufman on script)

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 19 mil. $
Box office: 32.8 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.72 times its cost)
[Adaptation premiered 3 December (Los Angeles, California) and runs 114 minutes. Adapting the story was an idea already in 1994, when the story Orlean's book is based on played out. Fox 2000 bought the film rights in 1997, before the book was published. Kaufman showed Jonze the script around the time of Being John Malkovich's release, 1999. Cage was paid 5 mil. $ for his performance, and Streep was very interested in playing Orleans, accepting a pay cut to make it happen. McKee suggested Cox to portray himself. Filming took place in California, including Los Angeles, from March - June 2001. The film opened #22 to a 384k $ first weekend in 7 theaters (a solid 54k $ average) in North America, where it peaked at #12 and in 672 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 22.4 mil. $ (68.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 1.1 mil. $ (3.4 %) and the UK with 0.9 mil. $ (2.7 %). The film was nominated for 4 Oscars: winning for Best Supporting Actor (Cooper); Best Actor (Cage) was lost to Adrien Brody for The Pianist; Supporting Actress (Streep) was lost to Catherine Zeta-Jones for Chicago, and Adapted Screenplay was lost to Ronald Harwood for The Pianist. The film also won 2/6 Golden Globe nominations, 1/4 BAFTAs noms, won AFI's Movie of the Year award, the Berlin International Film Festival's silver prize, 3 National Board of Review awards and scores of other awards and honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. Jonze returned with 18 video, TV and short projects, before he returned to cinemas with family masterpiece Where the Wild Things Are (2009). Cage returned in Matchstick Men (2003); Streep in The Hours (2002); and Cooper in My House in Umbria (2003, TV movie) and theatrically in Seabiscuit (2003). Adaptation is certified fresh at 91 % with a 8.18/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] 

What do you think of Adaptation?