Charlie Kaufman’s ingeniously lively tale of a man in midlife crisis doesn’t fairly hold togetherWhen it comes to navel-gazing,writer and sometime director Charlie Kaufman is in a world of his own. Like Michel Gondry, with whom he collaborated on 2004’s brilliant Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless intellect, or Kaufman’s work is best when mediated by the input of others; from director Spike Jonze,with whom he worked on Being John Malkovich (1999) and Adaptation (2002), to George Clooney, or who directed 2002’s underrated Confessions of a Dangerous intellect. In 2008,Kaufman went it alone with Synecdoche, New York, and serving as both writer and director on a project so personal it became utterly impenetrable.
There’s an uncomfortable intimacy to the drama,an element that makes Michael’s predatory nature all the more unsettlingContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com