2008 Oscar Watch: Best Picture
By Kit Bowen, Hollywood.com Staff
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Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Synecdoche, New York
Only from the mind of Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich), who makes his directorial debut, comes this really strange tale. It’s about a theater director (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who stages a play in an old warehouse, in which he constructs a life-sized replica of New York city and makes his actors play out his life there. It may be a tad too weird for some Academy voters, but it should also be fascinating to those who love and appreciate Kaufman’s always inventive mind.
Honorable Mentions: Doubt, another play-turned-feature film starring Meryl Streep as a mean old nun; Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, a twisted look at the life of a retired pro-wrestler (Mickey Rourke); Seven Pounds, a Will Smith tearjerker; and Pixar’s Wall-E, a shoo-in for Best Animated Film but which could also sneak on the Best Picture list.
