Friends With Money (US, 2006)

Nicole Holfcener's 'Please Give' was the best movie I saw last year, so I've been chasing up her back catalogue to some extent; my first LoveFim rental was 'Lovely and Amazing', not realising I'd seen it back in the day at the now sadly defunct Kino arthouse cinema, Cork.

And of course there's the wonderful Catherine Keener; last year it clicked, in a 'putting a name to the face' way - "Ah, that's the actress who's in all the good American indies.."

'Friends with Money' follows the lives and loves of four female friends. Performances from the all-star girl cast are strong all-round, particularly Jennifer Aniston's, whose straitened circumstances put her slightly at odds with the other three who provide the film with its title.

It's a light, enjoyable piece, funny in places, articulately not drawing any conclusions.
It deserves more than the 6.0 it gets on IMDB.

Synecdoche, New York (US, 2008)

Philip Seymour Hoffman as the put-upon theatre director in the kind of intense rôle that he's suited to. As with Kaufman's 'Adaptation' (2002), the creative process and actuality are cleverly intertwined; whereas the earlier film is relatively self-contained, 'Synechdoche' becomes a sprawling rumination on love, life and death with the proverbial cast of thousands.

Maybe a bit too clever and sprawling...

There are a number of engagingly bizzare visual gags - American troops in Berlin; the sound of remote gunfire on the New York set; the constantly smouldering flames in the interior of a house; the 'chance' meeting of Caden (Hoffman) and his psychologist on a plane bound for Germany. Strong supporting performance also from Samantha Morton.

Interesting article by Robert Williamson outlining how American indies have retained their original spirit while gradually attracting bigger budgets and stars.