I finished my exams last monday, and it has been an eventful week but not a busy one. Allow me to elaborate- we (by we i mean a select few people who have either finished exams [just us film studies students] or those whose exams do not start for a long while) went out on monday night to celebrate the end of our examinations. It was a bender to say the least. Started early, finished late.
We went to the Student union pub, drank heavily and went to a very emtpy club. Things that happened: pennies were nutted into pint glasses, I saw off my first pint in one, we tore apart a pub quiz by refusing to take part in it but insisted on very loudly shouting out all the answers-a personal favourite being 'Which pop star has a daughter called pheonix?' obviously it was Mel fucking B. After our crashing of the quiz we essentially got kicked out. Went to the club, my memory kicks back in lying down on a cricket pitch chatting shit and nearly voming. I looked at my clock-it was only one o'clock. Ran back to the club. On the walk home managed to divert the attention of four police cars when they thought we were burglars breaking into a courtyard (we had broken in but only to get a good view of the stars-gay?). Then Duncan and I went for a swim in a water feature. Good night.
On a less hedonistic note I can gladly say I finally got the chance to see Synecdoche, New York. Having been given a US release in December it has certainly been a long time coming. Charlie kaufman wrote and directed the film- being my favourite screenplay writer with works to his name such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation and Being John Malkovich the standard of excellence I was anticipating was very high.
(picked the most peadophillic phot I could find.)
Since Synecdoche is Kaufman's directorial debut I was dubious about how well his phenomonally powerful imagination with screenplay writing could be transferred to the confines of the camera. Fortunately it transferred very well. Synecdoche carries all of the dark, tragic humour contained within his other works especially in the first half of the film-a personal highlight being when Caden tragically discovers his daughter threw the gifts he sent her into the rubbish tip and he pours 'tear substitute' into his eyes because his illness prevents him from crying. Switching seemlessly from humourous tones to heart shatteringly tragic moments (tiny spoiler warning) e.g. when Caden's daughter dies of ink poisoning from her flower tattoos and we see a petal fall off her body. Kaufman's use of magical realism through the film creates a harmony between the tragic and comic elements of the film. Throughout the film you are never truly sure whether what you are seeing is real or is in Caden's mind which really helps you get to grips with his character and possibly gives you the ability to understand him more than any of the characters in the film could.
The stellar performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan and Emily Watson will keep any audience transfixed to the film even if at times it is a struggle to comprehend completely what is happening. I definitely intend to see it again to fully grasp the ideas in the film.
Rarely am I so profoundly affected by something that I cannot really move as the credits role. I have to say i felt very anxious afterwards and had a lump in my throat for a long time. Definitely a very successful film and I hope to see more from Kaufman directorially in the future. I pray that Synecdoche makes some more money. With a $ 20 million budget it has only grossed around $3 million. COnsidering it was released in December this unfortunately a catastrophic failure.
This is certainly a 9/10 film and I would recommend it to anyone (unless if you are an idiot).
(picked the most peadophillic phot I could find.)
Since Synecdoche is Kaufman's directorial debut I was dubious about how well his phenomonally powerful imagination with screenplay writing could be transferred to the confines of the camera. Fortunately it transferred very well. Synecdoche carries all of the dark, tragic humour contained within his other works especially in the first half of the film-a personal highlight being when Caden tragically discovers his daughter threw the gifts he sent her into the rubbish tip and he pours 'tear substitute' into his eyes because his illness prevents him from crying. Switching seemlessly from humourous tones to heart shatteringly tragic moments (tiny spoiler warning) e.g. when Caden's daughter dies of ink poisoning from her flower tattoos and we see a petal fall off her body. Kaufman's use of magical realism through the film creates a harmony between the tragic and comic elements of the film. Throughout the film you are never truly sure whether what you are seeing is real or is in Caden's mind which really helps you get to grips with his character and possibly gives you the ability to understand him more than any of the characters in the film could.
The stellar performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan and Emily Watson will keep any audience transfixed to the film even if at times it is a struggle to comprehend completely what is happening. I definitely intend to see it again to fully grasp the ideas in the film.
Rarely am I so profoundly affected by something that I cannot really move as the credits role. I have to say i felt very anxious afterwards and had a lump in my throat for a long time. Definitely a very successful film and I hope to see more from Kaufman directorially in the future. I pray that Synecdoche makes some more money. With a $ 20 million budget it has only grossed around $3 million. COnsidering it was released in December this unfortunately a catastrophic failure.
This is certainly a 9/10 film and I would recommend it to anyone (unless if you are an idiot).
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