Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut in theaters Friday

Obsess much? In Synecdoche, New York, Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a theater director who spends decades building a grand replica of New York inside an expansive Manhattan warehouse in order to stage what he considers his life’s masterpiece. Along the way troubles with his ex-wife and current wife mount, and the facts and fictions of his life blur together among the look-alikes who take to his stage. This is the first directorial effort by lauded screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, and this film’s skewed brand of comedy and drama should resemble his Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton and Michelle Williams co-star. Rated R. (Photo courtesy Sony Pictures Classics)