Nay: Synedoche, New York

Hate to start this out on the negative note but we had high hopes for an interesting cinematic experience when we self-programmed this via Netflix. So whose fault is it? With Synedoche, New York we got an incomprehensible, self-reflexive scatological mess, and so ended up with a quite negative evening of self-programming ourselves, Mrs. Shears and I. Charles Kaufman is not a genius. Let’s go out on a limb. He’s the Hollywood Approved genius, an American who makes self-focused films. They are not self-indulgent, like Woody Allen or Oliver Stone because the self-reflexivity is what he does. He’s the apex of that trend, started by, who else, the Beatles, when they began to mention their own songs in their songs. He’s is the acknowledged “art” writer in Hollywood today so that there is at least one Amarican whose name the film snobs can point to and then have everyone nod at each other is mutual self-gratification. Yes. He’s a genius. 

But he’s also not a genius.

Because geniuses would have a large body of work besides what would be considered their masterwork. Kaufman may not ever come up to the level of Adaptation again, but he wouldn’t have to. He’d just have to make something that doesn’t concentrate so much on his or someone else’s digestive tracts. And since he also directed the mess, he’s running neck and neck with M. Knight (”Shamalama Ding Dong”) Shyamalan — who has never, and likely will never, match the competent storytelling he exhibited in The Sixth Sense – for the title of One-Hit Hollywood wonder.

See, too long already for  a short post.

By the way. Speaking of the film snobs, They’re the ones who have destroyed the presentation of foreign films on DVD. Was I the only one in who preferred the dubbing of voices to subtitles? I’d gladly give up the authenic voice and lips synching in exchange for the ability to watch the movie. Instead we are forced to read the screenplay on-screen. I haven’tseen one foreign film on DVD where dubbing in English is a choice. Most of these film will already have an Englihs tracks. Just slap it on the disc.