Unconsoled Synecdoche
The one movie I saw in the theaters over the break was Synecdoche, NY, which I found profoundly moving in spite of the fact that the main character was plainly repellant.
I’m not sure I can write a review of it; I’d be more interested in having a conversation about it over drinks (of which I’ve had two already, but very much ready for more).
But I did want to get the answer to one question: has anyone else noticed a distinct similarity between Charlie Kaufman’s movie and Kazuo Ishiguro’s masterwork, The Unconsoled, one of my all-time favorite books?
If not, then I may have the hook for a review. If so, then please direct me to the other person who has made this connection, so I can read what, right now, I’m having a hard time figuring how to write.
Google can find only seven webpages listing all four words — synecdoche kaufman unconsoled ishiguro — and they’re just random noise, so you are home free.
In general, the quality of thinking about current movies is very poor, so any good ideas you have about them are likely to be fairly novel.
— Steve Sailer · Jan 5, 11:13 PM · #
“drinks (of which I’ve had two already, but very much ready for more).”
Yeah, I know the feeling. It’s gonna be a rough year made palatable only by more drinks.
— Steve Sailer · Jan 5, 11:16 PM · #
Steve: I’m back at work. I’ve had (since I saw the movie) two conversations (about the movie) over drinks already, and am ready for more (conversations and drinks). Don’t get me in trouble with the boss.
(That said: you’re right.)
— Noah Millman · Jan 5, 11:23 PM · #
Was a bit repetitive for me, which was probably part of the point, but, well, I would have preferred a bit less repetition. Still very moving, though. A movie best seen alone, I think. Hmm, then again, maybe best seen with someone else, so you have more of a protective layer between you and it.
— nascardaughter · Jan 6, 02:11 AM · #
Noah, I always think of you these days when I listen to “Marketplace” on NPR while making dinner. I usually add a prayer that you’ll be encouraged.
— Joules · Jan 6, 04:28 AM · #
Loved both the movie & the book, but frankly didn’t see the connection until you made it. Synechdoche’s central conceit seems so clearly Borgesian (the tactic of synechdoche itself being central to a bunch of the stories) rather than owing to Kafka or Walser, The Unconsoled’s obvious influences. But what struck me about the movie – and one of the things I liked so much about it – is how this central conceit functions through an immersive/accretive process, leisurely concretizing around the characters & named explicitly in the title but otherwise discreet from the action of the movie. Relevant to Steve’s point (the repetition), it seems as if one could easily remove anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes of the film, at random, without altering the movie’s shape or the process by which it builds. And, yes, now that you mention it, I feel pretty much the same way about The Unconsoled ¬– where protractions and puzzling time schemes also animate the book’s comedy and menace.
— mw · Jan 6, 03:57 PM · #
I loved the movie and was a little puzzled by the lack of interest. I’ve never read The Unconsoled, but I intend to fix that.
— Reihan · Jan 6, 04:18 PM · #
Synecdoche, NY really bothered me. I consider it one of the worst movies I have ever seen, yet I have met a couple of people who claim to have enjoyed it, Manohla Dargis gave it an excellent review in the New York Times, and now Noah Millman claims to have enjoyed it (I have a hard time believing anyone really enjoyed it, so I claim that people claim to have enjoyed it). Unfortunately, I cannot comment on the comparison to The Unconsoled, but I would be interested in any review which sheds any light on this movie and on why someone might be enjoy it.
The problem with Synecdoche, as I see it, is that it is pompous, clearly views itself as high art, and yet is depressing, utterly confusing, and has no point. My full review is at http://jonti.org/movie-reviews/movie-review-synecdoche-new-york This is the only movie I have ever seen in which I have had a strong urge to spread negative word-of-mouth.
— Jon · Jan 6, 08:58 PM · #
Both Manola Dargis and myself pointed out in our reviews how much Synechdoche seems inspired by Borges’s one paragraph parable “On Exactitude in Science:”
“In that Empire, the Art of Cartography attained such Perfection that the map of a single Province occupied the entirety of a City … In time, those Unconscionable Maps no longer satisfied, and the Cartographers Guilds struck a Map of the Empire whose size was that of the Empire, and which coincided point for point with it. The following Generations, who were not so fond of the Study of Cartography as their Forebears had been, … delivered it up to the Inclemencies of Sun and Winters. In the Deserts of the West, still today, there are Tattered Ruins of that Map, inhabited by Animals and Beggars…”— Steve Sailer · Jan 8, 02:33 AM · #