Sunday, February 7, 2010

My favorite 20 films of the 2000s: Synecdoche, NY

These are my 20 personal favorite films of the 2000s and they are not being ranked according to any criteria, other than I love them. So here they are, in alphabetical order:





Synecdoche, New York (2008) Philip Seymour Hoffman became one of my favorite actors of all time during the 2000s. His roles were key in so many good films: Almost Famous, Punch-Drunk Love, Red Dragon, 25th Hour, Capote, The Savages, Charlie Wilson’s War, Doubt as well as roles in a few others I didn’t see – and that is just the past 10 years! Other roles in The Talented Mr. Ripley, Magnolia, The Big Lebowski, Boogie Nights, and as a younger actor he has a scene in Scent of a Woman, alongside Al Pacino, as a perfectly pitched trust-fund student. I mean, this guy is my hero as far as acting goes.

Now let’s pair him with the eccentric Charlie Kaufman as writer and director and, before we watch the film, just throw out anything and everything we know or think we know about watching a movie. Maybe, just maybe, you will enjoy what you see. I’m not going to say you will like this film because I have no idea who the audience is for this one, but I am one of them, and if you find yourself intrigued by the types of movies Kaufman and Hoffman would do together, then this is your jackpot. A re-telling of the plot would do no justice, but generally speaking be prepared for non-linear and non-traditional story-telling, both with a means to an end that will have you thinking for days.

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