Synecdoche, New York

I don't know how to write about this movie yet. But knowing who reads this I'll say first that it won't appeal to 97% of you, maybe two people that (occasionally) read this blog would like it. Synecdoche, New York is Charlie Kaufman's first directing effort (he also wrote the script). Some of you may him as the writer or Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. If you don't really like those two movies, please, don't see this one.

SPOILER ALERT: Below are some screen captures from part of the movie and a transcription of part of the voice-over that accompanies these images. This was my favorite part, maybe because it reminded me of Borges.

"What was once before you, an exciting mysterious future is now behind you. Lived, understood, disappointing. You realize you are not special. You have struggled into existence, and are now slipping silently out of it. This is everyone’s experience, every single one."

" The specifics hardly matter, everyone is everyone. So you are Adele, Hazel, Claire, Olive, you are Ellen. All her meager sadnesses are yours, all her loneliness, the gray straw-like hair, her red, raw, hands. It’s yours; it is time for you to understand this."

"As the people who adore you stop adoring you. As they die, as they move on, as you shed them, as you shed your beauty, your youth, as the world forgets you, as you recognize your transience, as you begin to lose your characteristics one by one. As you learn that there is no one watching you, and there never was. You think only about driving. Not coming from any place, not arriving any place. Just counting off time, now you are here at 7:43, now you are here at 7:44, now you are…gone."