Synonymes

The promising start of the story with the subsequent pretentious storytelling style and chaotically handled camera falls apart into a thousand nervous pieces. The unsympathetic main character, whose dressing up in the robes of Adam only made sense to me in the opening passage of the film, also hurts the film. (45%) (07.03.2021)

Synonyms is an unresolved, fluid film full of ellipses and disturbing moods, which seeks its voice until the end. Like its uprooted protagonist, who reassembles his identity from the numerous fragments that comprise the film’s narrative, it is both stimulating and irritating due to its variability and volatility (manifested not only across the film, but sometimes within a single shot, which sets elements against each other in various image plans). We cannot uncover the essence of the enigmatic protagonist, as he is constantly on the move, always looking for himself and the right words. He can neither abandon his erstwhile identity nor assimilate in a new country. He fails again and again and starts over (System Crasher has a similar structure, but it starts to be monotonous after an hour, whereas that does not happen with Synonyms). With its nervous rhythm (flashbacks from the Israeli army serve not so much for explanation, but for setting the rhythm) and the synonymous varying of one (unresolvable) situation, the film superbly captures the energy (rather than the psychology) of the protagonist. 80% (05.10.2019)