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Ashes of Time Redux Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Synecdoche, New York
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MPAA RATING: R for language and some sexual content/nudity
Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Dianne Wiest, Samantha Morton, Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Emily Watson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hope Davis, and Tom Noonan
Theater director Caden Cotard is mounting a new play. His life catering to suburban blue-hairs at the local regional theater in Schenectady, New York is looking bleak. His wife Adele has left him to pursue her painting in Berlin, taking their young daughter Olive with her. His therapist, Madeleine Gravis, is better at plugging her best-seller than she is at counseling him. A new relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel has prematurely run aground. And a mysterious condition is systematically shutting down each of his autonomic functions, one by one. Worried about the transience of his life, he leaves his home behind. He gathers an ensemble cast into a warehouse in New York City, hoping to create a work of brutal honesty. He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a growing mockup of the city outside. (Sony Classics)
GENRE(S): | Comedy | Drama |
WRITTEN BY: | Charlie Kaufman |
DIRECTED BY: | Charlie Kaufman |
RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: March 10, 2009 Theatrical: October 24, 2008 |
RUNNING TIME: | 124 minutes, Color |
ORIGIN: | USA |
LANGUAGE(S): | English | German |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 78 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Mark R. gave it a10:
I felt like I got more than my money's worth with this film. Although it is not a movie for the casual viewer. I can't wait to see it again (just wish there had been some, any, non-white people in Cotard's world. It seems that Kaufman's NY and Woody Allen's NY are inscrutably pale).
Gene S. gave it a0:
As you can see there is quite a stark contrast between what the "reviewers" think of this movie and what people in the "real world" think of this mess. Can I give it zero stars? I wanted to like this movie. Really, I did. The cast is first rate and it started out interestingly enough. But the movie decends into a muddled, meandering mess. And talk about depressing! The story within a story within a story is worthy of exploration but the use of symbolism and allegory to such an extreme, combined with the fact that the story (if you want to call it that) is VERY depressing and ultimately fruitless ---- well, I really wish I had that 2 plus hours back in my life. What a compete, utter, total waste of time. The fact that I'm even thinking about it now angers me but I figured if I can spare others from my misfortune, maybe some good has come out of it. How this movie even got made is a mystery for the ages.
Andy Blue gave it a10:
This is a one-in-a-million film. It's so brilliant and groundbreaking -- so defiant of our expectations of movie storytelling -- that many of us will fail to understand or appreciate it. But it's a masterpiece work from a genius artist. I'm amazed and thankful that it was actually made and distributed. "Synecdoche" moved, inspired, and changed me.
Rory C. gave it a10:
this movie was released in maybe about 2 or 3 theatres in all of florida. luckily one of them was only thirty minutes from me. best movie i've seen this year. haven't seen any since. have no plans to.
Mathieu C. gave it a10:
The only movie worth seeing this year. It's the most inventive screenplay I've ever seen, dans one of the most touching too.
Sean F. gave it a4:
Not a great Charlie Kaufman movie. Some brilliant moments/bright spots, ultimately, though, a disappointing picture. Maybe worth seeing just for the inventiveness and creativity of it all, but I really started to lose the point of this whole thing, a little more than half way through it. Good acting (and actors), but overall probably an average to mediocre film.
Robert H. gave it a5:
I'm confused and depressed. Seems like a good movie would have given us some insight into how to escape or even to cope with the dispairs of life.
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