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Senseless life

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Learnt a new word today. Synecdoche is linguistic tool used to explain things. Smaller parts of an object is used to explain  the object as a whole. For example, wheels to refer to a car, barrel to barrel of oil and No. 10 refers to The British Prime Minister’s Office.

In the same vein, the character  in this parable to symbolically denote the cycle of life of Man. The film also illustrates the various trials, tribulations, psychological challenges and nihilism that modern man goes through. It has a wealth of Jung's theories. We all aim for the unachievable but at the end and want to leave forever but at the end of the end of the day, our needs are simple.

It tells the story of a self centred theatre director who has many challenges in his personal life and his attempt to create a larger than life account of himself in a play that never gets played over the years. The director writes the story of himself, hires doppelgängers to portray himself and more actors to play the doppelgängers! There is blur between reality and dream, between gender identity and scenes of different characters doing the same act! Even though the story make look confusing and draggy in the beginning, it all falls in place towards the end and makes sense too.

The dialogue has double meanings and most scenes have a deeper reference to it. It is for us to discover.
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