Of course, the film is very old news to all of you Stateside, but allow me a moment to say how proud I am that my fellow Englishmen — well, the critics among them, at least — have embraced Charlie Kaufman’s stunning “Synecdoche, New York” with open arms.
The film opens today in the UK to a raft of rave reviews from the local broadsheets, including rare five-star notices from the Guardian and the Telegraph. Here’s a sample of Peter Bradshaw’s awestruck review:
The film is either a masterpiece or a massively dysfunctional act of self-indulgence and self-laceration. It has brilliance, either way: surreal, utterly distinctive, witty, gloomy in the manner that his fans will recognise and adore, but with a new epic confidence, absorbing the influences of Fellini and Lynch … At the end of it all, you will feel as if you have lived through some crazy tragedy, swum a chlorinated Hellespont of tears. It is not for everyone, but is utterly extraordinary in its way. If Charlie Kaufman never does anything again, this will stand as his cracked monument.
I always suspected that the film would probably play better across the pond than in the States — though to be fair, it’s not as if the film doesn’t have it share of American devotees. But I’m so pleased to see a clearer consensus emerging on the film this time around — perhaps if there had been similar unanimity of praise on its U.S. release, the film wouldn’t have got quite so buried in awards season. (I’m not deluding myself into thinking the film could have been a major player, but the fact that there was nothing for, say, Samantha Morton all season still really smarts.)
Anyway, the rehabilitation begins here. Hurrah.
Comments
19 responses to “The Brits get it”
Jesus I know there are a few of you who liked this film, but the smug attitude has to stop. I don’t begrudge you your enjoyment, but this film is over. It came, it saw, it failed. Move on.
“This film is over. It came, it saw, it failed.”
Obviously not in my part of the world, Burma.
It may be that the Brit critics liked this more then their American counterparts. As an American who didn’t get it, I’d like to see the Box Office for the film and the we can compare who “got it” more.
Not that I appreciate films based on their Box Office; but I don’t appreciate them based on the critics’ reviews, either.
i wanted to like this movie so much. It just didnt work.
“This film is over. It came, it saw, it failed.”
Citizen Kane & Vertigo were commercial failures(& critical failure to a great extent in US) when they were released. Look how they are regarded today.
I honestly feel this movie is 1 of those, maybe I am biased because I love it but the film is genuinely marvelous.
It was not completely overlooked in the US. Atleast SOME people got it.
http://www.indiewire.com/article/complete_results/
I loved it. Didn’t understand it, but I loved it all the same. I’m excited to see it again now that I’ve bought it on DVD.
I love it as well Matthew. I love there are things that one might notice in the film that others don’t, and it builds to an idea that could differ from person to person.
It’s one of those movies that requires to be watched more than once. I only saw it once and I still feel like I’m going “what was that?”
Ugh… the thing is a chore to sit through, but its ideas are brilliant and thought-provoking enough to keep it somewhat tolerable.
But seriously… it’s a gigantic self-indulgent mess. How people can praise this movie to the heavens then go on and berate something like “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” for being overlong, ponderous, and sloppily structured just doesn’t make sense.
Although like any piece of art, I appreciate what Kaufman did. I would also appreciate it if he never directed again. His visions just run endlessly rampant without a proper director to realize them.
Empire gave it 5 stars too. I liked the film but it’s obvious why Kaufman shouldn’t direct his own screenplays because even he gets lost in his own work. Just like on screen ;). A different director always has a different approach and the movie would still have been challenging and brilliant but in a far more balanced way.
Also I like to note Hoffman was truly excellent in this film, I never liked him this much. Same goes for Morton too btw.
I thought it was amazing the first time I saw it. However, after watching it again on DVD, my opinion has been hampered a bit. It is just too messy.
It’s a pretty great film and I notice that most of the people deriding it don’t have anything to say about anything quantifiable and only chant the same subjective mantra of ‘self-indulgence’ that is seen and judged so differently by different people to be a generally irrelevant criticism to the quality of a film.
The film is brilliant
I live in Australia and it just came out here.
Us and the Brits are very similar in our film tastes but in my home town of Brisbane, Synecdoche, New York is being shown in just 1 cinema. There is no advertising for it what-so-ever and it will be out of that cinema in at least a week.
Such a shame for such a great film.
Mr. Harmonica I notice you have nothing quantifiable to say in support of it. The burden is on you people.
I don’t know, Guy. I mean, it’s one of my favourite films of 2008, but looking over the reviews registered at Rotten Tomatoes for May 15, 2009 (I’m assuming these are the UK ones), it looks around 3/4ths positive, at best.
OK, it’s 17 positive, 5 negative: so that’s 77% positive reviews from the UK critics…a bit better than the U.S. (~67% positive).
You mean people are still talking about this film about poop?
Thanks to the laziness of U.K. distributors, yes.
You mean like the script is nearly perfect, the direction is top-notch (and impressive for a debut) and the whole cast is stellar?
No, no – no It’s self-indulgent!
All of this means nothing.
But also, no, the burden is not on those who enjoy a film. Fallacies are a troll’s best friend, however, so continue on.