Synecdoche, New York

BIO|OKO and PQ presents on Wednesday 22.6. special screening with Mark Friedberg attendance and after movie discussion.

Philip Seymour Hoffman creates a mesmerizing portrait of the artist as a young, old and middle-aged man. He plays Caden Cotard, a stage director struggling on the fringes in Schenectady, New York. His shrink (Hope Davis) despairs of him. His painter wife (Catherine Keener, first-rate as always) leaves for Berlin with their daughter and never returns. Then, a genius grant allows Caden to construct a huge theater piece in a warehouse in Manhattan. The subject is Caden's life, and he takes a lifetime to create it. The play is a “synecdoche”, a figure of speech that indicates a part standing in for the whole. Directed by Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation).