First off, I have no idea how to pronounce the name either. And second, I would be impressed if you've ever heard of this movie let alone seen it. "Synecdoche, New York" is written and directed by Charlie Kaufman (witter of "eternal sunshine for the spotless mind" and "being John Malkovich"). The film follows the life of a local theater director named Caden (Philip Semour Hofman), and his depressive ass life. I'm not joking, Caden has the saddest life I've ever seen. His luck goes from bad, to worse, to just plain terrible. Seriously, if I were him I would have put a bullet in my head after the first thirty minutes. Early in the film Caden is met with his depleting health and starts to go mad throughout the film. And on top of all this Caden's selfish bitch of a wife leaves him and takes his daughter, who he doesn't see for 30 years, because she believes she is in a passionless marriage. One thing you need to know about this film is that time is irrelevant, years pass in an instant. In the film Caden is awarded the MacArthor Grant (a 500,000 dollar grant given to geniuses) which Caden uses to put on a massive play inspired by his own life. He rents out a giant storage house and essentially builds a city inside of it filled with people told to live out a regular life. But throughout the film the line between reality and fantasy is blurred. At a certain point you can't tell if what is happening is real or if it is just going on inside Caden's head. I'm going to be honest, this film is much smarter than me. Filled with motifs, allusions, and metaphors. Brilliantly written and filled with dark humor. An intelligent and entreating film about a sick man's decent into madness over a period of years. And the most depressing f*cking movie I've ever seen in my entire life.
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