I recently saw Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York. It's a challenging and dark, but brilliant film. If you haven't seen it, you should see it before reading this or anything about it.

Very clever films give you a lot to think about and analyze. If you think enough and watch many times you can get at clues to the hidden meanings and broader themes of the film.

Other films in the art genre are made nonsensical to prevent this analysis of finding meaning.

This film is unique from either in that it does has deep meaning, but the film has been intricately designed to prevent you from finding it, and should you eventually realize that, then you have unravelled the puzzle of the film.

Kaufman said to one interviewer, "The film is not about what I think it is about, it is about what you think it is about." An obvious analysis of that statement is that the film is open to interpretation and different people might read different things into it. However, Kaufman's statement is a trap. He wants you to think that is what he is saying, in order to mislead you. But actually he told you the truth, just in a misleading way. The film is about what you think it is about. It is about your process of trying to find out its meaning. The plot reflects this as well, the film itself represents the search for meaning, and the impossibility of finding meaning. You may not know what is real. You may not interpret things correctly. What is the purpose of your life? Even thinking we know, we can not ever really know. Peel away one level of the onion of meaning, and there is another within, just as intricate.

Despite the film's intentionally constructed imperviousness to analysis, its intricate design rewards rewatchings, which are necessary in order to understand things such as how calendar time is managed as a structural element.