Cannes ‘08: Pete Hammond’s Notes on a Season: Charlie Kaufman brings his quirky act to Palais

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If Charlie Kaufman was hoping reaction the Cannes premiere of his new comedy/drama and directorial debut, ‘Synecdoche, New York’ would cinch a distribution deal, the applause meter let him down at Friday night’s Grand Lumiere screening.

Sorry, Charlie.

Clocked at about three minutes, it was one of the shortest ovations of the week, although a big reason could be Kaufman himself. He was noticeably nervous and fidgety walking the red carpet with his cast including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Emily Watson, Michelle Williams and Tom Noonan.

After the movie the lights went up, instead of standing and milking the applause as most directors do at Cannes, he just sat in his seat staring straight ahead like he was waiting for the next feature to begin.

Finally, still seated, Kaufman gestured to his cast but didn’t stand until they all did in unison and then didn’t really try to encourage the crowd. The applause died fairly quickly by Cannes standards. Charlie is Charlie. Ya gotta love him. He’s clearly not here to stroke his own ego, at least not in front of the crowd.

In fact, the biggest ovation came when the camera paused on Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is remarkable as a struggling 40-year-old local theater director whose life turns into a Kafka-like dream when he stages a life-play in an abandoned warehouse.

Should ‘Synecdoche’ find decent distribution, and then the kind of audience Kaufman’s previous scripts have, including his Oscar-winning ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ and nominated ‘Being John Malkovich’ and ‘Adaptation,’ Hoffman could garner serious awards attention. It’s a full-tilt, powerful turn by an actor in his prime.

Though some will be quick to dismiss the movie because they just don’t ‘get it,’ the film is everything, and more, you might expect from a Kaufman-directed film of a Kaufman script -- a weird fascinating fever dream of a meditation on death and love and knowing your lines.

Kaufman is an acquired taste for many Americans, so imagine how difficult it must be to translate his cinematic language around the world. A friend who speaks French (and loved the film) says the French subtitles on tonight’s print didn’t really do a good job of translating what was happening on screen.

An insider connected to the film said today they are hoping word is good enough coming out of the screening to convince gun-shy distributors to give it a chance. With a cast and writer/director of this pedigree it would seem a no-brainer, unless producer Sidney Kimmel Entertainment is asking too hefty a fee.

With multiple Oscar nominations and wins for almost all his previous films as a writer, Kaufman has become a brand name for offbeat meditations on life. His work seems inspired less by other movies than by his own weird dreams. ‘Synecdoche, New York’ fits right in with his previous efforts and with TLC should certainly find the kind of audience who will appreciate it and talk about it.

It will be interesting to see how Charlie Kaufman’s Cannes moment, one that looked like it was clearly surreal to him, plays out in his future. At the very least it could give him inspiration for his next script.

How about a movie about an out-of-body experience taking place entirely on a foreign red carpet?

-- Pete Hammond

Photos: WireImage