Watch the trailer for Synecdoche, New York

When Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) decided to direct one of his screenplays for the first time, it wasn’t clear exactly what would happen. And now, a completed film and two major festival runs later, it’s still not clear what did happen—reviews out of Cannes and Toronto were as wild as the movie apparently is, and even the people who seem to admire the film aren’t sure what to make of it.

So strong was the reaction to Synecdoche, New York that the man who earned Oscar nominations (and one win) for three of his last five screenplays couldn’t even land a distributor until months after its premiere. The eventual dice-roller, Sony Pictures Classics, has finally cut a trailer for the film, and we’re not sure it does much to illuminate it:



The trailer marries signature Kaufman dialogue with a dash of poignant asides in an effort to make it look like the movie has linear dramatic leanings—which, by all accounts, it doesn’t. (In a forthcoming profile in November’s issue of Paste, Kaufman admits as much, saying even he wasn’t always sure where the movie was going.)

The trailer certainly won’t deter anyone from seeing it (it strikes a sweet, agreeable rhythm reminiscent of the trailers for all of Kaufman’s movies), but given the heated talk that’s swirled since the film’s premiere, selling it as a caustic middle-age romp seems a little misguided.

We won’t have to wait long to find out, though: SPC has the movie set for an Oct. 24 release.

Related links:
News: Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, NY in talks with Sony
News: Charlie Kaufman to make directorial debut at Cannes
Paste's Art House Powerhouse 100

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