Synechdoche, New York...preliminary thoughts

Well, "Dear Zachary" wasn't at the right time--i.e. when the sitter was arriving--so we saw "Synechdoche, New York," the new movie written and directed by Charlie Kaufman ("Adaptation" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"). If you thought it was hard figuring out what was going on in "Eternal Sunshine," your head will implode watching this one. Paul and I argued all the way home about what it was "about." That said, I liked it a lot....and I'm still processing it, so I'll post more later. But my first thoughts were of Borges ("Labyrinth") and Shakespeare ("All the World's a Stage" and the "Out out brief candle..." speech from Macbeth). It's all the choices we could have made--or opted not to make--in life, being re-evaluated, often with deflating conclusions (shoulda, coulda, woulda). That sounds depressing--and Philip Seymour Hoffman is pretty grim in this one--but there was something kind of beautiful about the idea, too. Maybe the apparent universality of the way we all trudge through is beautiful. I don't know. As I said, more later. But definitely worth seeing--just expect to a) wonder what the hell is going on and b) still be wondering when you leave the thater. In a good way.

*Here's a link to some interesting non-spoiling discussion about this film.