Review of Synecdoche, New York

First off, Hoffman is brilliant. This is real acting; not requiring special F/X to make one a star, and even though for 99% of this movie I was going HUH?, every scene he was in was great. In an interview he basically tells us what the story is about, but you can tell that either he really quite does not know, or he is not supposed to tell. Keener, as usual, is superb as well. Like so few actors, she can say more with a facial expression than an entire page of dialogue. I had to read the blogs about the movie to try and figure out what was going on, and from what I can tell, not too many people could either. The issue that this is Ellen's story totally eludes me, since 1) she does not enter into the story until nearly the end of the picture, and 2) Hoffman's interview. As I was thinking of this movie, and boy will this movie get you thinking if you're the type to mull over a movie, and drifting off to sleep I think I came up with what this movie is about. It is about Caden, but it is the moment before he dies. Know that saying that when you die your life flashes before your eyes? How about when you die your future flashes before your eyes? But in this case some of Caden's past is there as well as that leads us into his final thoughts of what the future would be like. That's how we know he's an Uber hypochondriac, and that his marriage is not going well. This then explains all those weird scenes (the house always on fire, the play that takes 40 years to do, though never gets done, etc.). This also explains the time on the clock(s). Even if you never figure out what is going on, watching Hoffman is worth the time invested.