“Synecdoche” producer Anthony Bregman in Jerusalem. July 2008.
Photo credit: Vered Fluk

In July producer Anthony Bregman introduced “Synecdoche, New York” at the Jerusalem Film Festival. He told me then that the film, financed by Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, was picked up for distribution in Israel by local distributor “Forum Film” (which has a licensing deal with Sidney Kimmel and presented other films produced by the company, such as “Charlie Bartlet”). Today it was announced that Forum Film has decided to drop the film and not release it, not theatrically and even not on DVD, although a subtitled print is already available. The film will be shown in cinematheques next week before getting shelved for good.

To me this is tragic. “Synecdoche, New York” is so far, in my eyes, the best film of 2008. I’ve seen it twice already. It’s a mental meltdown of a script - about an artist who wants to tell the truth about life in his work, while never being able to actually live the life, or fulfill his vision - it’s as baroque and outrageous as Fellini’s “8 1/2″, and as trippy and nerve-wrecking as The Coens Brothers’ “Barton Fink” (with a similar metaphor in both, of a house engulfed in flames). It’s a movie about the impotence of the artist, but there is nothing impotent about the film itself. On the contrary: it’s brave and astute, and although this is Kaufman’s first directorial effort, the film plays as a large scale mind-trip that’s being handled with a confident hand (but a less then confident mind).

Forum Film, the Israeli distributor, are better suited in turning Disney and Pixar animated movies into hits. They are the blockbuster makers, and they handled well the local releases of “The Lord of the Rings” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” series. But they are constantly clueless with the handling of art-house releases. A sad state for the company that holds exclusive rights to to Miramax and Weinstein Co. titles. The shelving of “Synecdoche New York” is in to me a cultural crime, economic censorship.
It should be noted that both “Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind” and “Adaptation”, written by Charlie Kaufman, were major art-house hits in Israel, both distributed by a different company, that specializes in intelligent movies for a hip crowd. Maybe foreign distributors and sales agent should pick their local representatives better. Forum Film ARE the biggest, but for films that do not play for kids or families, they are far from being the best.