{"id":3537,"date":"2009-03-01T21:19:20","date_gmt":"2009-03-02T02:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=3537"},"modified":"2009-03-01T21:19:20","modified_gmt":"2009-03-02T02:19:20","slug":"apart-the-hole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/apart-the-hole","title":{"rendered":"Apart, the Hole"},"content":{"rendered":"

I saw Synecdoche, New York<\/a> on Friday afternoon and I’ve spent this weekend trying to parse what I saw, heard and felt. I’ve even been struggling with the metaphor of how it’s affected me; I don’t want to ape the ongoingly-dying lead character by saying it’s infected me like a virus. I think it’s more like ink in water, gently dispersing, ever obscuring.<\/p>\n

I don’t feel bad that I can’t come up with the right words. Roger Ebert<\/a> and Manohla Dargis<\/a> both loved the movie, but neither of them seem to have the vocabulary to approach it. Ebert comes closer in this blog-post about it<\/a>, but he’s still barking at cats. Robert Wilonsky named it his favorite movie of 2008, but didn’t review it for his paper. He did get in a good interview with writer\/director Charlie Kaufman<\/a>. (Rex Reed’s negative review<\/a> is pretty funny, in its way.)<\/p>\n

I watched Adaptation<\/a> on Saturday night, in hopes that it would provide some clues into Synecdoche<\/em>, since it seemed to be the most thematically similar of Mr. Kaufman’s<\/a> previous screenplays. I was completely wrong, of course. Adaptation<\/em> is about a man who can’t start, and Synecdoche<\/em> is about a man who can’t stop. Also, Synecdoche<\/em> isn’t about writing, but dying. It’s also a million times funnier than Adaptation<\/em>, and the women are amazing. (Like Ebert, I won’t write about the actors or their performances.) Unfortunately, I caught a 1 p.m. screening, so the other dozen audience members were generally elderly people. They didn’t find it as humorous as I did.<\/p>\n

For all the difficulties in the movie, I never felt like I was being sneered at by Mr. Kaufman. It felt more like he was struggling to convey the ineffable, knowing it’s ineffable. I still don’t get why Samantha Morton’s house was on fire, but this isn’t the sort of movie where misreading a symbol will derail your entire experience with it. At least, it wasn’t for me.<\/p>\n

I almost drove back into NYC on Saturday to watch it again, but the DVD is coming out on March 10, so I preordered it. I have a feeling that I’ll ramble more about this movie in the next few months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I saw Synecdoche, New York on Friday afternoon and I’ve spent this weekend trying to parse what I saw, heard and felt. I’ve even been struggling with the metaphor of how it’s affected me; I don’t want to ape the ongoingly-dying lead character by saying it’s infected me like a virus. I think it’s more … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Apart, the Hole”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22,4],"tags":[574,578,580,579,285],"class_list":["post-3537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-literature","tag-charlie-kaufman","tag-manohla-dargis","tag-rex-reed","tag-robert-wilonsky","tag-roger-ebert"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-V3","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5629,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-october-8-2010","url_meta":{"origin":3537,"position":0},"title":"Unrequired Reading: October 8, 2010","author":"Gil","date":"October 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a great week! Don't forget to tip your waitress! Okay, we start off with another (horrifying) Required Reading: exploding the notion of \"Breast Cancer Awareness month\". * * * Biological class warfare . . . in Brooklyn! * * * How to make Mariah Carey tasteful. * *\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pharmaceuticals"","block_context":{"text":"Pharmaceuticals","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business\/pharmaceuticals"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4194,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-july-17-2009","url_meta":{"origin":3537,"position":1},"title":"Unrequired Reading: July 17, 2009","author":"Gil","date":"July 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Summertime, and the linkin' is easy. Just click \"more\"! My Top Companies issue is online! (without the graphics and neat formatting of the print edition, but hey) * * * Roger Ebert on Robert McNamara, sin and confession. * * * Snack attack, motherf****r! * * * Speaking of which:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3837,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/no-bailout","url_meta":{"origin":3537,"position":2},"title":"No bailout","author":"Gil","date":"April 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was in Vegas this week, I entertained the thought of giving up this blog, bailing on writing (but not my day job as an editor), and trying to find another pursuit\/outlet. Then two things happened. First, one of my best friends wrote out of the blue to tell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Roger Ebert\"","block_context":{"text":"Roger Ebert","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/tag\/roger-ebert"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3425,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-feb-13-2009","url_meta":{"origin":3537,"position":3},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Feb. 13, 2009","author":"Gil","date":"February 13, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"It's an extra-spooky, hockey-mask-wearing Friday the 13th edition of Unrequired Reading! Boo! The A.V. Club offers back-to-back Random Roles interviews with two VM faves: Illeana Douglas and Bruce Campbell! * * * Roger Ebert contemplates the long-term view, as in that Flaming Lips lyric, \"Do you realize that everyone you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4124,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-june-26-2009","url_meta":{"origin":3537,"position":4},"title":"Unrequired Reading: June 26, 2009","author":"Gil","date":"June 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"No doubt about it: these links suck. Just click \"more\"! I'm sorry, Kathryn Bigelow. You made Strange Days. Hence, you suck. * * * I'm sorry, Huckabees. You still suck, especially as a followup to Three Kings. * * * Painter of light? You suck as a businessman and as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4415,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-aug-28-2009","url_meta":{"origin":3537,"position":5},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Aug. 28, 2009","author":"Gil","date":"August 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a busy week, so cut my links some slack, okay? And just click \"more\"! 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