Review of Synecdoche, New York (2008) by Marty M — 09 Oct 2012

What you take away from this film is determined by what is you bring to it as a viewer. I think each person will have a different experience and if you're willing to give it a chance it can be a profound and deeply personal experience. That being said, this film isn't for everyone. And halfway through I was getting the feeling it wasn't for me either. But then I just let the film takeover me and found that although a lot of what I was watching didn't seem to make much sense, the feelings it was conveying was very familiar. And parts of the film felt as though it was speaking directly and solely to me.

There's so many ideas, themes and symbolism thrown at you that it can be quite overwhelming to latch onto anything at first. But the big themes of love, loneliness, relationships, regret, identity, existentialism and mortality are universal and should be enough to get you swept up into Mr. Kaufman's fascinating mind. Multiple viewings is probably mandatory and I would think more rewarding as well and I look forward to exploring the world of Synecdoche again and again.