Video of the lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRfXcWT_oFs
Screenwriters' Lecture: Charlie Kaufman (2011)
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Re: Screenwriters' Lecture: Charlie Kaufman (2011)
#22Adaptation is one of the gems of Postmodern cinema. I really like what that film did to my brain the first time I watched it. It's hilarious. It's a keen insight into the process and emotional rollercoaster of creative work. The layered hilarity to it all is that it's based on the real experience of Kaufman trying to adapt The Orchid Thief.
"Adaptation" is absolutely amazing of a movie. Kaufman's works are all amazing but I think this one takes the cake. It's so smart and so well executed. I know Nic Cage is a very controversial actor, and I don't doubt he acted terribly before, but this movie is a good demonstration of how incredibly good he really is if he decides to play well, which really strengthens his other works because you always question "did he really mean to do that just now?" like a Schoenbergian "did he really mean to put a minor second at every measure?"
Re: Screenwriters' Lecture: Charlie Kaufman (2011)
#23I'm a huge fan of Kaufman's work but only recently saw Synecdoche, New York, which immediately became my favorite movie, ever. That led me down a rabbit hole of listening to basically every recorded interview he's ever given. He's absolutely brilliant, sincerely humble, probably depressed, and just an absolute joy to listen to. I have a simple quote from him on my computer that I look at from time to time: I try to d…
This is a great series of "s,ny" analysis :
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs13oSKi_qiuwDIYaQROhJr1F...
Re: Screenwriters' Lecture: Charlie Kaufman (2011)
#24I'm a huge fan of Kaufman's work but only recently saw Synecdoche, New York, which immediately became my favorite movie, ever. That led me down a rabbit hole of listening to basically every recorded interview he's ever given. He's absolutely brilliant, sincerely humble, probably depressed, and just an absolute joy to listen to. I have a simple quote from him on my computer that I look at from time to time: I try to d…
I enjoy Roger Ebert's review of it: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/synecdoche-new-york-2008
Here's the first paragragh:
I think you have to see Charlie Kaufman's "Synecdoche, New York" twice. I watched it the first time and knew it was a great film and that I had not mastered it. The second time because I needed to. The third time because I will want to. It will open to confused audiences and live indefinitely. A lot of people these days don't even go to a movie once. There are alternatives. It doesn't have to be the movies, but we must somehow dream. If we don't "go to the movies" in any form, our minds wither and sicken.Re: Screenwriters' Lecture: Charlie Kaufman (2011)
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you like that movie, then I highly recommend checking out The Rehearsal (2022). Basically a show version of the movie!
The Rehearsal (and Finding Frances) is with Synecdoche, New York in the bucket of "I didn't know art could do that". I was just in complete awe of what he did with with both of those.
And then there's How To with John Wilson, executive producer: Nathan Fielder.
Re: Screenwriters' Lecture: Charlie Kaufman (2011)
#26Adaptation is one of the gems of Postmodern cinema. I really like what that film did to my brain the first time I watched it. It's hilarious. It's a keen insight into the process and emotional rollercoaster of creative work. The layered hilarity to it all is that it's based on the real experience of Kaufman trying to adapt The Orchid Thief.
I appreciate Adaptation for being well written and clever but it doesn't really astound me because it relies too heavily on its gimmick. The classic meta "you see this movie you are watching? I am self referencing it! I am breaking the fourth wall! And now I'm breaking the fourth wall about breaking the fourth wall". The entire thing is just neurotic obsessive self examination without a point. It just repeatedly goes for the obvious joke by laying out the subtext without much subtlety.
Re: Screenwriters' Lecture: Charlie Kaufman (2011)
#27If you haven't already, pick up a copy of Kaufman's only novel, Antkind. It is easily the funniest thing I have ever read. The audiobook version is perfectly done. I have never laughed so hard in my life.
I'll give this book a strong second. It is outrageously funny. The narrator/protagonist is such an insufferable wimp. I swear it's good, though.
I didn't know there was an audio book though. That might be worth a look.
Re: Screenwriters' Lecture: Charlie Kaufman (2011)
#28I'm a huge fan of Kaufman's work but only recently saw Synecdoche, New York, which immediately became my favorite movie, ever. That led me down a rabbit hole of listening to basically every recorded interview he's ever given. He's absolutely brilliant, sincerely humble, probably depressed, and just an absolute joy to listen to. I have a simple quote from him on my computer that I look at from time to time: I try to d…
It's life changing.
Re: Screenwriters' Lecture: Charlie Kaufman (2011)
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
I also found found it incredibly hard to watch, and was also ruined me for days if not weeks. In fact, I think a certain part of me has been permanently changed. And that is exactly why it is now my favorite movie. A lot of movies have moved me, but this thing did something I didn't even know movies could do.
I was going to watch it based on the first review in this thread. I think I will have to wait to watch it based on the 2 ruined people. I don’t currently have time for that. thank you for the warning.
I can echo the others. It's also my favorite movie, period. It is a movie that psychically assaults either vicariously through the characters and/or (likely and) through identifying with the themes of struggling with the idea of artistic experience, destiny, legacy, etc. Even if you don't "actually" believe in all of those things it's probably because you contended with these ideas before and came to some psychologically safe (ethically and philosophically coherent, at least internally) conclusion about them, but this movie really tugs at those deepest heartstrings and induces a reliving of the main character's struggles with those themes.
The first time I watched it I had to pause it halfway through... the next couple hours I was in a mental space that can only be rationalized as "schizophrenic". I thought everyone around me were psychopaths and I was the only sane one, but lived that in a more or less manic way. The only other piece of art that's had that kind of effect on me is the novel Naked Lunch. It's my favorite movie precisely because of how unflinchingly it plumbs those depths, those cracks, of the human condition and the anxiety of dying having not contributed enough.
Re: Screenwriters' Lecture: Charlie Kaufman (2011)
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was going to watch it based on the first review in this thread. I think I will have to wait to watch it based on the 2 ruined people. I don’t currently have time for that. thank you for the warning.
I can echo the others. It's also my favorite movie, period. It is a movie that psychically assaults either vicariously through the characters and/or (likely and) through identifying with the themes of struggling with the idea of artistic experience, destiny, legacy, etc. Even if you don't "actually" believe in all of those things it's probably because you contended with these ideas before and came to some psychologic…
Sounds great unfortunately I seem to be living the circumstances you currently describe.