Synecdoche, New York (2008)

After his wife (Catherine Keener) leaves him and moves to Berlin with their daughter (Sadie Goldstein), a theater director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) receives a grant. He rents a massive warehouse in Manhattan's theater district where he will spend years creating a theater piece that is both personal and epic. Meanwhile, his body deteriorates with a mysterious medical condition. Written and directed by writer Charlie Kaufman in his directorial debut. It's an ambitious, perplexing film that is overwhelming. When it was over, I thought, "interesting" but I'm not quite sure if I got all of it. While words like pretentious and self indulgent come to mind, I'm not sure it's fair to the film. It's not a realistic film. If you've seen Kaufman's films as a writer (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH), you know they exist in an alternate universe that has nothing to do with the "real" world and here, Hoffman exists in a surreal world (someone buys a house that's perpetually on fire, etc.). It's themes are challenging and while I don't think it totally succeeds, I appreciate the attempt. The large cast includes Michelle Williams, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Dianne Wiest, Emily Watson, Hope Davis, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan, Rosemary Murphy, Amy Wright, Alice Drummond and Peter Friedman.