With Synecdoche, New York, Kaufman’s directorial debut, he once again creates an absurdist reality with more real-world implications than the film’s runtime. A probing, meditative yet unyielding immersion into our collective mortality and perception of time, Synecdoche, New York, starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Hope Davis, Samantha Morton, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Emily Watson and Tom Noonan, roots itself in the dark psyche of Caden (Hoffman), a theater director who’s grown tired of staging productions of Death of a Salesman and undertakes a massive project after he’s bestowed with a grant. The project: life and death, humanity and the human experience, more or less, unabridged.

Whether life imitates art or vice versa is debatable, and happens to be a cornerstone of Synecdoche, New York. Where Caden’s production ends and his life begins is indistinguishable. As is typical of a Kaufman script, the narrative plunges headlong into metafiction, one which the characters are fully aware of and yet inseparable from. The central question here is what happens when we—actors in our own right—direct actors portraying ourselves who in essence are ourselves? How about when we hand over the reigns to an assistant director? At what point do we become lost, or someone else entirely? Who’s feeding us our lines? Would we have expected anything less from Charlie Kaufman?

Most interesting, Time itself has a starring role in this daring and refreshing (though purely depressing) film. Traditional constraints and continuity have no bearing, and casual observers should take heed: pay attention. Certain scenes will span the course of upwards of a year or two, all in the blink of an eye and without so much as a jump-cut. It’s all in the details.

At its core, the film questions, well, everything. What are we doing here and who set the stage? Oh yes, and what does it matter? This one’s not a comedy, and that’s what makes it so funny.

Synecdoche New York is now playing at the Uptown Theater