92: Synecdoche, New York with Angie Han

About this episode

Phil and Emily discuss the film Synecdoche, New York with guest Angie Han, exploring its themes and cultural impact.

Phil and Emily are joined by Angie Han, TV critic at The Hollywood Reporter, to discuss  Synecdoche, NY  (2008), Charlie Kaufman's audacious directorial debut and the film Roger Ebert called the best of the 2000s. Kaufman wrote and directed this hallucinatory portrait of Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), an ailing theater director who uses a MacArthur Fellowship to build a life-size replica of New York City inside a warehouse. As the decades pass and his art consumes his life, the film tunnels deeper into mortality, creative obsession, and the quiet horror of living in a body that won't cooperate. Originally conceived as a horror film with Spike Jonze,  Synecdoche, NY  opened in October 2008 against High School Musical 3 and Saw 5, made $4.5 million on a $20 million budget, and has since been ranked among the greatest films of the 21st century by the BBC, the Guardian, and Time. Phil finds it deeply triggering as a self-described hypochondriac. Angie has seen it a dozen times and finds it weirdly soothing. Emily thinks it's funnier than people give it credit for. All three dig into why this film bombed commercially and became a critical touchstone, what…

People in this episode

Hosts: Phil Iscove, Emily St. James

Guest: Angie Han

Topics covered

• film analysis
• directorial debut
• creative obsession
• mortality
• comedy
• cultural critique

Keywords

• Synecdoche, New York
• Charlie Kaufman
• Philip Seymour Hoffman
• film analysis
• cultural critique
• mortality
• creative obsession

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Hollywood Reporter, BBC, the Guardian, Time

Books & works: Synecdoche, New York

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