TheRetroCritic

Over the years, Paul Thomas Anderson seems to have perfected his journey into tackling big themes through personal stories and through flawed, toxic characters. Case and point: The Master . Religion was a prominent theme in Anderson's previous effort There Will Be Blood and you could say that the whole film, despite outlining the rise and fall of Daniel Day Lewis' oil tycoon, was indeed about the relationship between business and religion. With his latest, we take a look at cults, yes, but also humanity in general. Here we have a Scientology-style organisation, "The Cause", based on the idea that Man is not an animal and, in fact, is far more important and deeper than he realizes and along comes Joaquin Phoenix's drifter, a down-and-out alcoholic drifter with a sex fixation. Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffmann), the cult's "master", decides to make him his pet-project, his guinea-pig. But it seems that proving the core theory that man isn

Just when you thought Charlie Kaufman couldn't possibly have anymore mind-melting tricks up his sleeve, out comes Synecdoche, New York to blow everything out of the water. Like David Lynch's epic  Inland Empire , Charlie Kaufman goes all out to create an incredibly dense, complex and unique work of art like there's never been before.  His decision to direct turns out to be not only daring but a blessing as it makes Synecdoche as bleak and real visually as it is in its philosophy and tone. Philip Seymour Hoffman proves once again why he's one of the best actors around with a subtle, touching and heartbreaking performance which should receive an Oscar gong come next year, if there's any justice. The rest of the cast is unexpected but absolutely spot on with everyone giving it their best shot.  Charlie Kaufman's fascination with the human mind reaches its peak here and this is by far his deepest and most fascinating work to date. Synecdoche New York is by no m