Synecdoche, New York

Charlie Kaufman has shook up the film world quite considerably since writing his debut film Being John Malkovich. Since then he has brought us the joyous film experiences of Adaptation, Human Nature, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Well, Synecdoche New York may well be his finest achievement, and it's also his directorial debut.

Starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman and a collection of some of the best female actresses working today including Catherine Keener who plays Caden's (Hoffman) wife Adele, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hope Davis, Emily Watson and Dianne West. The other notable performance is Tom Doonan. With a cast of this magnitude its no wonder the film has garnered such rich reviews, and there isn't a dull performance amongst them. The reason they have all got onboard such an indulgent, surreal experience is clearly Charlie Kaufman.

The film can be viewed in two ways; one as a pretension, indulgent exercise or as a profoundly personal evocation of everything Kaufman fears in life. Aparently Kaufman saw the film as a horror and so before writing it he sat down to conceive of everything he find terrifying in life. Aparently he has some strong insecurities about himself, his image to women, the fallibility of his body and his desire to create a massively unique and personal work of art as these are just some of the themes jostling for attention. There is almost too much going on in this film, as if in lesser hands than Kaufman's the film would surely have collapsed under its own weight. It a credit to Kaufman for being so ambitious, audacious but also honest in his depiction of the themes he explores.

That this is also his directorial debut is also a great achievement. The film may not have the inventive camera use he found under Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry, but he controls the story with a mannered direction and never lets the ambition of the script get out of hand. Kaufman also recgonises the talent on hand and in Hoffman he has an actor of he highest calibre. For the most part then, Kaufman allows his actors the space and time and never tries to wrestle control of the picture from their capable hands. By doing this he makes the film feel completely his own creation. The actors on screen mirroring the actors they portray in the film.

It would be unwise to go into too much detail here about the actual content of the narrative, beyond sketching an general outline as I feel it would not do justice to the mind bending concept at play before your eyes. My only advice is watch the film, accept its indulgence, but also acknowledge the scope, ambition and audacity for Kaufman to not only broach such a subject but also to pull it off with such aplomb. For me this is so far the best film of 2009.