Weekend Netflix Report: 'Synecdoche, New York'

Synecdoche, New York. A theater director (Philip Seymour Hoffman), whose life is unraveling, attempts to mount an enormous production based on his own life as he is living it. He casts actors as himself and all the major figures in his life, and as pre-production drags on (for many years), he gradually becomes a character in his own play -- though not a character based on himself. I would call this a "sad" film, but it made me laugh at times.

The director (of the film), Charlie Kaufman, has said that Synecdoche, New York is not a dream. But it isn't realistic, either. This is one of those films that seems to take place mostly in the protagonist's mind, which usually appeals to me when it's well done. And it is here.

(A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is used to represent a whole or a whole represents a part. When Shakespeare wrote "Take thy face hence" in Macbeth, he was using a synecdoche. The word sounds a lot like "Schenectady," the city in upstate New York where the early scenes of the film take place.)