Problem
The film: Synechdoche, New York.
A. This film contains many surreal elements. Which is the first you noticed? What was your reaction upon encountering it? How did it influence the way you understood the film going forward?
B. In what is becoming something of a theme this quarter, we once again have a story-within-a-story here. How does that structure in general complicate a viewer's understanding of what is "real" and what is story? How does Kauffman further complicate this with his take on story-within-a-story?
C. Time moves at different paces at different points in the film. In what ways does the filmmaker help you mark passages of time? Is the passage of time ever confusing? In what ways doe the filmmaker cultivate or take advantage of that uncertainty.
D. Motifs and symbolism play a large role in this film. Identify a visual or audio or thematic motif. Where does it appear in the film? Do we see different versions or takes on the motif? What does the motif represent or what role does it take in the film?
E. The term "synecdoche" means "a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa." Why has Kauffman chosen that as the title? How does it help you understand what the film is trying to do? In what ways do you see synecdoche expressed as a theme in the film?
F. How do the opening scenes set the tone for the film? Look at the mise-en-scene in the opening domestic scenes and the interactions between characters. What do you learn about the characters and relationships in the opening minutes of the film?
G. This is a film that presents some big questions. Who are we as we change over time? How revealing/intimate must art be to express deeper/more existential truths? What is the life of an artist? What kinds of answers does the film pose?
H. How do you understand the world of the film? What is happening outside Caden's massive project? How does our sense of the world inside the project change as it becomes more self-referential? How does the self-referential nature work visually? What is the relationship between the events in the larger world and the events focused on by the film?