"Part dream, part puzzle, part brainteaser, the dazzling directorial debut from award-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman stars the inimitable Philip Seymour Hoffman as a theatre director who turns his every living moment into a play.

Hoffman plays Caden, whose problems include a failing marriage to Adele (Catherine Keener) and a career that is heading downhill fast. When Adele leaves him to pursue her own art career in Berlin, Caden throws himself into his new Broadway show. He creates a synecdoche of his life, in which a part stands for the whole. The film's narrative begins in Schenectady, New York, and the play between the two words is just one of countless ludic details that spring forth like sparks in this film.

As Caden attempts to fill his domestic void with dramatic recreations, he casts a lanky actor (Tom Noonan) as a near doppelgänger, a beautiful actress (Michelle Williams) as his wife and a quirky look-alike (Emily Watson) as his love interest, who in real life is an even quirkier box-office attendant named Hazel (Samantha Morton). As the players attempt to reproduce the goings-on in Caden's life at a 1:1 ratio, complications multiply. The real and the simulacrum start literally talking to one another, and Caden becomes both puppeteer and puppet on his own stage.

Hoffman is brilliant, embodying Caden's assorted neuroses and illnesses in heartbreaking detail. Kaufman, who has already demonstrated his genius for narrative play in the scripts for Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, directs the story to more sober, ambitious territory here. There are ample moments of comic hysteria – Hazel's house is both poetically and literally on fire for much of the film – but ultimately this is a tale about all the big subjects: life, death, love and art. Though it begins with the clever conceit of art imitating life to an absurd degree, Synecdoche, New York rises to a symphonic level of philosophical reflection. This is the work of a major artist, and must be contended with as such." - Cameron Bailey, Toronoto Film Festival. Directed by Charlie Kaufman. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hope Davis, Tom Noonan, Sadie Goldstein, Robin Weigert. MPAA Rating: R, 35mm, 2008, USA. Running time: 123 mins.



NOW PLAYING @ 9PM
SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK

Just how hard is it to be happy? In the effervescent new comedy from writer/director Mike Leigh (VERA DRAKE, SECRETS & LIES), Sally Hawkins stars as Poppy, an irrepressibly free-spirited school teacher who brings an infections laugh and an unsinkable sense of optimism to every situation she encounters offering us a touching, truthful and deeply life-affirming exploration of one of the most mysterious and often the most elusive of all human qualities; happiness. Poppy’s ability to maintain her perspective is tested as the story begins and her commuter bike is stolen. However, she signs up for driving lessons with Scott (Eddie Marsan), who turns out to be her nemesis – a fuming, uptight cynic. As the tension of their weekly lessons builds, Poppy encounters even more challenges to her positive state of mind; a fiery flamenco instructor, her bitter pregnant sister, a troubled homeless man and a young bully in her class, not to mention that she has also thrown out her back. How this affects not only Poppy’s world view but also the outlook of those around her begs the question “glass half full or half empty”? Directed by Mike Leigh. With Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Stanley Townsend, Kate O’Flynn, Caroline Martin, Oliver Maltman, Sarah Niles, Samuel Roukin, Karina Fernandez, Nonso Anozie, Sinéad Matthews, & Andrea Riseborough. United Kingdom, 2008, MPAA Rating: R. Runningtime: 118 mins. Showtimes: Nightly at 6:45 & 9:00. Additional Sunday. matinees at (2:15) & 4:30.

STARTING DECEMBER 12TH

MIKE LEIGH'S HAPPY GO LUCKY

This film by noted cinematic muckraker, Nick Broomsfield, is based on a true story. It is disturbing portrayal of a secret world that is all around us. Ai Qin, a young Chinese girl from Fujian, China, borrows $25,000 to pay Snakeheads to smuggle her into the UK illegally so she can support her son and family back in China. Once in the UK she becomes another one of 3 million migrant workers that are the bedrock of its food supply chain, construction and hospitality industries. She lives with eleven other Chinese in a two-bedroom suburban house. With illegally forged work permits, they work in factories preparing food for British supermarkets. In their search for better paying jobs to repay their debts they end up cockling in Morecambe Bay at night. On February 5th 2004 twenty three Chinese drowned in Morecambe, their families in China are still paying off their debts. Ai Qin and the other principal characters are played by Chinese former illegal immigrants who have drawn on their life experiences to give passionate and authentic performances. The director, Nick Broomfield, has stepped out of his documentarian role, to create a grippingly compelling film that will change your views on the entire migrant population. And have you wondering about slavery in the 21st century. Directed by Nick Broomfield.
Great Britain 2007, Cantonese/English w/ English subtitles, 96min. Showtimes: Nightly at 7:00 & 9:00. Additional Saturday & Sunday matinees at (3:00) & 5:00. Opens November 21st.

WILD COMBINATION is director Matt Wolf's visually absorbing portrait of the seminal avant-garde composer, singer-songwriter, cellist, and disco producer Arthur Russell. Before his untimely death from AIDS in 1992, Arthur prolifically created music that spanned both pop and the transcendent possibilities of abstract art. Now, over fifteen years since his passing, Arthur's work is finally finding its audience. Wolf incorporates rare archival footage and commentary from Arthur's family, friends, and closest collaborators—including Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg—to tell this poignant and important story. Directed by Matt Wolf.










NY TIMES REVIEW

4 STAR REVIEW FROM SF CHRONICLE

BOSTON GLOBE REVIEW

TIME OUT NEW YORK REVIEW