Just a quickie today.

The UK Times gives Synecdoche a good write-up and 4/5 stars:

It seems fairly safe to assume that being Charlie Kaufman may not be a lot of fun. The screenwriter of Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich has premiered his directorial debut in competition in Cannes, and it gives an insight into the workings of his mind. The bitter humour that characterises the first half of Synecdoche, New York gives way to an engulfing melancholy and paralysing regret about wasted opportunities, creative failure and the tragic impermanence of everything we value. At times it feels more like a suicide note than a movie.

...Synecdoche, New York is a defiantly uncommercial movie - it's infuriatingly enigmatic, philosophical and nobody knows how to pronounce the title. Plus it is about death. The ambition is staggering. I'm not sure it works entirely. While Kaufman does a sound job as the director - he is particularly nimble when guiding us through a flipbook of alternate “realities” - his writing, with its onslaught of crackpot ideas, always runs the risk of dominating any film that doesn't have an experienced director with a very confident aesthetic.

There's a certain irony that in order to create something real, Caden ends up with layer upon layer of artifice. But there is, unquestionably, an emotional authenticity to Kaufman's vision - a profound and very affecting sadness that rings out pure and clear. (Source)

Thanks to Tim.

Canoe.ca has a short write-up on the film's press conference - mostly focusing on Charlie's comments about him not genuinely being a character in any of his movies. I think that was also in an article from an earlier update. Thanks to Jon for that one.

Worth checking out: this page, with some candids of Charlie and co. at Cannes, along with a new Synecdoche poster. Expect Eric to post a review of the film soon.

It's cold here. Thank-you and goodnight.