Kaufman's Synecdoche is a psychedelic success

Synecdoche, New York, the wondrous new film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), doesn't start out weirdly. For anyone who is familiar with Kaufman and his style, nothing is surprising anymore - except, perhaps, realism.The first 40 minutes of the film are as grounded and real as a Scorsese movie. Once this gives way to the area in which Kaufman is unparalleled - a world of utter surrealism - the true beauty and mystery of the film emerge.Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a depressed play director living in Synecdoche, N.Y. His production of Death of a Salesman opens to rave reviews, but his artist wife Adele (Catherine Keener) doesn't even bother to see it on opening night. In fact, Caden comes home at six in the morning to find her stoned and laughing with her friend. Every aspect of his home life with Adele and their four-year-old daughter Olive is strained and forced. Eventually, the unthinkable happens: The two leave for Berlin so that Adele can properly pursue her artwork. To make matters worse, every health ailment seems to afflict him in a two-week period, from pustules to infected gums to seizures. As a result, Caden believes he's dying and becomes obsessed with death.Not everything is lost, however; Caden opens a letter to discover he's been named a 2009 MacArthur Fellow, the world famous "genius" grant. He starts a new production by renting out a former aircraft hangar and using it as the stage for his work. He marries the star of his first production, Claire (Michelle Williams), while continuing to have an oddly sexual relationship with the woman who worked the box office for Salesman, Hazel (Samantha Morton). Ironically, this point marks the end of traditional, straight storytelling. For example, Hazel's house is perpetually on fire. Additionally, Olive left her diary at home, but because Caden has no concept of time, he reads it as if she's writing in it everyday. He imagines what she must be feeling or going through and projects it on this journal. On an airplane to Berlin - to try to find Olive - Caden imagines his book is talking to him and giving him directions, and suddenly his therapist appears to his left. In other words, Kaufman uses his trademark psychedelic method of storytelling to depict the decaying of Caden's magnificent, troubled mind.As this new production goes forward, Caden has a New York City replica built in his hangar, and enlists actors to play everyone - including himself. A man named Sam (Tommy Noonan), possessing an otherworldly essence, follows Caden everywhere. Soon, without a linear or clear progression, 17 years have passed. Since Caden can't grasp how events are moving forward, neither can the film. Events happen rapidly without any reason or obvious connection. The protagonist is so obsessed with "earning" his MacArthur grant and creating a play that is "truthful" and "pure." He creates a microcosm within this hangar, an artificial world that is meant to capture what's "real" in the outside one. The irony, though, is that through such an enormous effort to capture the truth in life, Caden and his crew lose their grip on their own existence.More layers are added to the puzzle: Caden disguises himself as a housekeeper to sneak into Adele's New York apartment; he meets Olive, who is tattooed and dying, and refuses to forgive him for abandoning her. Both events point to an underlying theme in the film - Caden's possible homosexuality, constantly suppressed but alluded to very often. If Caden were gay, his estranged female relationships and constant self-loathing would be easily explained - which is why he probably isn't. In a film as complex and interwoven as Synechdoche, New York the simplest answer is most definitely not the correct one.The movie is wonderful, thought-provoking, infinitely complicated and wonderfully simple. With all its strengths, though, it cannot escape its one weakness: It's too long. The downward spiral of Caden Cotard's psyche is a marvelous and brave undertaking on Kaufman's part, but losing 20 minutes from the film's run time would make it even more effective. Some shots are overly long and some scenes too abstract; surrealism is the heart of this film, but without any firm ground for the viewer to hold onto, it loses its poignancy.Overall, though, the movie is breathtaking. The replica of New York City, covered by the steel cage of the hanger, is a sight to behold; the performances, too, are just as spectacular. Hoffman, especially, embodies this role and makes it not only believable but beautifully tragic. No external meaning will be projected here; this film is one that simply needs to be seen.