Day 9: Live from Cannes: Once again inside Kaufman’s maze in Synecdoche, New York

I had to wait until the second last day in these film Olympics to see my most anticipated film of the festival, and of the year. Running the gamut of everything from being in and taking control of one’s life, to obsessing over things that you can keep into check (relationships, managing actors, and working on large productions) and to uselessly trying to control the things you can not change from disease, aging and death, Synecdoche, New York details what kind of magnitude that these conditions can carry on the individual – brilliantly portrayed once again by Seymour Hoffman.

As Kaufmanesque as his previous brilliant other work dealing with relationships (BJM, ESOTSM and Adaptation), this is smart tragic-comedy that will play well for sophisticated moviegoers and to anyone who of considers themselves a fan of the writer and now director but it’s theatrical success depends on what kind of domestic distributor takes on such a project – this is an award season title that will need the concentrated effort to pull viewers into this heavily, detailed maze.

In Cannes to present the film were producers Spike Jonze, Anthony Bregman, Hoffman, Williams, Morton, and Tom Noonan & Catherine Keener not featured below. Here are some pics I took before they entered the press conference and here’s the official Cannes Poster (which details the number of changes that may occur in an entire troupe’s stage performance. Look for full review coming soon!

Charlie Kaufman

Spike Jonze

Samantha Morton

Michelle Williams