Just got done watching this movie. Is it good?
>>66571283
This movie is very divisive. I'm not sure if you are trying to b8 because you would think you would actually have something to say about it yourself but whatever, I'll respond.
I do not particularly like this movie. The craft in it, cinematography, camera placement, the actual direction is bad or at best functional. But that isn't why people purport to like Kaufman, so whatever.
The themes of the movie are what I see supported the most as why this is good and again, I see philosophically nothing of interest or comment. Nihilism is not a conclusion that needs a movie to explicate it. I realize however that a lot of /tv/ and 4chan in general are misanthropic and nihilistic so I'm guessing this is why it resonates so well with this group. In general though, the difference between people who think the movie is deep and those who don't, I think does come down to this point. If you think nihilism is deep, you think this movie is.
The last thing I want to touch on in specific is that unweildy metanarrative that Kaufman loves to do. Having a metanarrative is not really a damnable offense in general but the problem with Kaufman's metanarratives are that he seems to be fascinated by infinite recursion and having that narrative fold in upon itself which he has done throughout multiple movies with limited success because he never really directs it at anything. It doesn't thematically link to anything which is the real problem because he devotes a good third to half of both this film and Adaptation to exploring these meta implications but It all simply distracts from what his actual points end up being.
Unfortunately for him, he doesn't really have much of interest to say however (at least in my opinion). If you want a strictly better version of adaptation, watch the player by Altman, and if you want a strictly better Synechdoche, watch The Sacrifice by Tarkovsky if you want the philosophical aspect or Opening Night by Cassavetes for the use of a metanarrative.
>>66571658
is this pasta? if not good job
>>66571283
I marathoned 20 mins of it before turning it off. Absolute trash. Overflowing with pretentiousness.
>>66572080
No, I wrote it just now. Check the archive if you don't believe me.
>>66571283
its the typical "play director cuck from jew york" flick
>>66572458
this movie is anything but typical
>>66572635
birdman.
I need a fucking source for this, no one wants to seed it.
>>66571658
>the point of synecdoche new york is nihilism
way to write 500 words and miss the point entirely, a college education well spent
>>66573082
than share your well educated opinion with us.
>>66571658
good read, interesting
maybe i should re-watch it some time. i like Philip Seymour Hoffman for what it's worth...
>>66571283
First movie in a while that legitimately made me cry. Once Sammy jumped I just couldn't handle it anymore.
>>66572811
I literally downloaded a 15 gig rip last week off a public tracker, what the fuck are you doing?
>>66571658
I think the metanarrative is executed quite well. At the least it is a raincheck to his own life, making characters of characters of characters allows him the self reflection that he lacks internally. He doesn't understand himself so he makes other people do it for him, everyone who he asks to describe him gives a different description and yet he considers every single one not only as valid but as a perfect cross section. When he creates characters of everyone in his life he gets to truly understand how they make him feel and how he makes others feel because he lacks very basic cognitive empathy.
In fact my favourite shot of the entire movie is when he flips back the warehouse flap on the map over and over again showing just how futile his quest for perfection and truth has been, to see how pointless everyone's life really is.
It's the scale of the production, it's the quest to be remembered and failing. It's not caring because you're going to die anyway.
>>66573082
Look, the movie is about the different ways people deal with death. Kaidan's wife ignores it and he obsesses over it. In the end they both die and nothing profound happens for either. That is nihilism, the world view is nihilistic.
>>66574177
>it's the quest to be remembered and failing. It's not caring because you're going to die anyway.
This is why I think people that like this movie should take the time to watch Nostalghia or The Sacrifice. They deal with similar problems, death, the value of life, the search for meaning yet you can watch synechdoche where the worst thing that happens to the main character is that he doesn't know anything about himself and learns that it doesn't matter anyway (again, something I don't find profound) and then compare it to the Sacrifice where a man is faced with nuclear annihilation and must choose to sacrifice not only his own life but the stability and well-being of his family in order to just have the possibility of averting the literal Apocalypse. Or nostalgia in which the candle scene perfectly cinematically communicates the purpose of struggle in the face of nothingness.
I mean, my god you have a man in nostalghia that lost his entire family, dead and gone, and he tries every day to take a lot candle across a hot spring. Everyone in town knows his tragedy and thinks he's gone insane. They pity him, they have no idea why he's doing it but he does continue and eventually we find out that he's doing it so that he has something to protect. I cried when the protagonist of nostalghia gets the candle to the other side because meaning had been implied upon it so thoroughly and so well. Then you look at this movie and the worst thing that happens to kaidan outside of his own control is his tendency to overanalyze, a character trait shared by the protagonist of almost all Kaufman films and he just pitys himself and dies having done nothing.
I'm sorry if this is what passes for deep these days.
After seeing this and Anomalisa, I think Kaufman should stick to writing. He needs a good director to reign him in.
>>66576067
I thought Anomalisa was one of the best midlife crisis films ever.
>>66576067
>>66576133
I also liked it better than Synecdoche,NY
>>66576133
>>66576168
It was better but felt too long to me. Probably should have just been a short like it was intended.
>>66576246
I didn't mind the lenght. Helps to better get into the whole trott of the characters misery.
The end hit me pretty hard.
>are you leaving dad?
>No, of course not ... where would I go?
to >>66575870
Kaufman's films aren't as deep as Tarkovsky on a philosophical level, sure, but they are still very relatable on an emotional level. I also don't think that the severity of the reasons why a person feels misreable are necesseraly what's important.
>>66571283
Someone tell me if it's good? I know it's got my favorite actress in it for a little bit, and I can get the blu ray for $6.
>>66572148
>marathoned
>20 minutes
>turned it off
I'm not sure that you could have used this word any more incorrectly.
>>66576631
It's one of those movies people tend to either love or hate, so your best bet would be to ask or look up someones opinion of the film, that generally likes the same movies as you.
Hope that helps friend.
I hate the jazz singer happily singing about how Kaiden is going to die from his parachute not opening, in a snarky jingle. Really, I want to fucking grab Kaufman by his collar and fucking drag him into Boston Harbor. I want us to fight to the death, and become food for an orgy of lobstahs. I cant stand Kaufman. Ooooh, I know about simulacra & Baudrillard? I'm a nihilist, I'm sooooo smart! I want to pour road salt down his colon, so that anyone who tries to fuck him in his tight Ashkenazi ass gets their cock burned. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was a ham-skinned buffoon, and I'm glad that he's dead. Nothen personnel, little person.
>>66577205
>hating on the best part
You have no soul
Is it autism?
>>66577515
It's both, laddie. It's both. Wah wah wah oh my god he's actually a lesbian, his little meals and little kid and wife hate him. Oh no, God has been stalking him for 20 years and jumps off an apartment building! And like, his lesbian alter-ego tells him to die, cuz he knows he's in a movie!
(On a serious note, I'm still enraged that the lesbian lover of Caden's wife raped Olive when she was 10. Caden might have been a shitty person, but nothing he did came close to what that women did. When she was insulting him at Olive's deathbed, I wanted to reach through the screen and throw her out the window.)
>>66577909
Well if it pisses you off that much it proves how grear the movie is
People are frustrating assholes in real life too
>>66576625
Here's the problem though. If someone is going to make a movie about something as heavy and philosophical as death, they need to be as profound and talented as tarkovsky or at least on par with world international Cinema.
Kaufman isn't. His writing is on the nose and he is plainly not talented enough to tackle such a large and unweildy subject.
He really, fundamentally should be making movies like inception. That's his level of talent. Personally I think Inception is a better movie than anything Kaufman has made just based on the fact that it knows what it is and wants to accomplish then does that competently.
People praise Kaufman because they don't know any better. They haven't seen or understood an articulate film about the themes dealt with in Synechdoche so they think this is great. It's like that one YouTube kid that constantly over analyzes Synechdoche and has it listed behind the holy mountain as the best film ever made.
I just can't stomach it. The praise this movie gets bothers me because of what it means about the reference and context of the people doing the praising. On the inside it's like I'm screaming "IF YOU WANT A DEEP MOVIE ABOUT DEATH AND THE MEANING OF LIFE AT LEAST PUT THE FUCKING EFFORT IN TO FIND ONE WITH SOME BETTER FUCKING CRAFT AND SUBTEXT"
I guess it all comes down to taste and I guess this entire thread, I've been quietly and articulately calling everyone that thinks this is one of the best movies ever made a pleb.
>>66578978
You have typed all that and said nothing of value. Mentionings of a director's or film's "social status" is not a real critique. You could of deleted that whole part and it wouldn't change your post at all.
The movie wasn't even trying to be "deep". Seriously ,you are trying way too hard to shit on this movie and it's laughable. the movie isn't for everyone. Get over yourself.
>>66571283
You're the one who fucking watched it. Make up your own mind.
>>66578978
I never really got the impression that the movie was trying to be deep at all. It was unconventional in the way it showed stuff, but it was conveying a message, and that message was conveyed pretty well.
>>66579141
>>66579217
You missed the beginning. I'm saying that to deal with concepts like morality, legacy, and the way humans cope with death you need to be really really talented for the thing to not be on the nose and shallow.
The reference to inception actually comes from just how upset Kaufman was during a Q&A when someone that inception felt like if he wrote a heist movie. He just got incredibly defensive and started talking about what trash American entertainment Cinema is and that really has negatively colored my image of Kaufman. If he wants to shit on entertainment Cinema that's fine but this whole "you can't judge him against other talented artist filmmakers" nonsense needs to die. He is literally aiming to make profound statements with his movies.
Stephen Spielberg and Christopher Nolan are infinitely more talented than Kaufman at the craft of filmmaking. Kaufman may have higher aspirations but his talent is not enough to reach them, at least not at this point. I haven't seen anomalisa though but what with the title being a pun, I don't have the highest hopes.
i wanna put aside pride for a second and at the cost of revealing myself as a pleb i wanna admit the truth
I DID NOT UNDERSTAND A SINGLE THING ABOUT THIS MOVIE
>>66578978
>>66579554
You seem patrician. Can you recommend me a film to watch so I too can have great taste?
>>66577059
Thanks bud, I just read some of Ebert's 4/4 review and I think I'll just buy it. $6 blu ray ain't that bad.
>>66579554
>still mentions director's social status
You will never learn
>you need to be talented for the thing to not be on the nose and shallow
Do you even read your own sentences? Did you even watch the whole movie? I'm going to do the same thing you're doing and critisize your argument with out explaining why I think this.
Your "criticism" is shallow and vague.
I win.
>>66579686
I'm not claiming to be patrician. I'm sorry. I know I said the pleb thing at the end of the first comment but it was a joke.
Just be curious and willing to watch something to completion and don't judge it until it's over.
>>66579620
Putting aside pride would be doing a bit of research, finding out what other people with worthwhile opinions (IE not /tv/) think of the movie, then going back and watching it yourself with their views in mind.
This is just you screaming like a retard
>>66571283
>image.jpg
>is a terrible thread
BAN MOBILE POSTERS
![lie-down-try-not-to-cry-cry-a-lot[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/D8XdGJ3.png "lie-down-try-not-to-cry-cry-a-lot[1].png")
>>66573739
Same, but it was the monologue at the end that got me right in the feels.
>What was once before you - an exciting, mysterious future - is now behind you. Lived; understood; disappointing...
>>66579976
I have watched the movie multiple times. I posted the first comment in the thread and I believe it true.
I would like to talk this through. I realize that there is this love for Kaufman and I just don't understand it. He seems naive, his works seem self obsessed and to insist on their own importance. He just seems like the most successful NYU film grad with that kind of snobbish sensibility. I mean, I lump him directly into that Noah Baubach, Joe Swanberg style of Cinema because apart from the metanarrative the conflicts in his films are identical to the type in those ones. It's all white people with relationship dramas and no discernable filmmaking talent(which is somewhat unfair to baumbach who occasionally does some good stuff).
His notions seem so delicate. He's like the epitome of the sheltered writer with nothing to say. He's like the university professor that PTA dropped out of film school because of.
I know, I know. I can't assume these things about him because all I have to go on is interviews and his works(which are completely self obsessed) but I did and maybe it's coloring my perception but I will say that I know I disliked every one of his movies I saw even before I knew who he was.
You were raped last night.
I don't know enough to write a long response but I really enjoyed it. The last third lost me a little bit. I loved the black humour in the first third and the timing of that humour.
I thought it was meandering, nilistic, abstract and unique. I haven't watched most of the films mentioned here and maybe they're far better, but I did enjoy it
>>66571658
>>66575870
>>66578978
>>66579554
>>66580509
Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
