In terms of the political/social engagement of competition films at the 61st Cannes Film Festival, it isn't too much of a stretch to say that Charlie Kaufman's "Synecdoche, New York" makes Arnaud Desplechin's dysfunctional family drama "A Christmas Tale" look like "Che," or even "Waltz With Bashir." Much-bruited, much-imitated screenwriter Kaufman's directorial debut features a parade of obsessively self-examining characters that never so much as talk politics, let alone practice any. The depths of the self-obsession of its main character, Schenectady-based theater director Caden (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) are made vivid in one shot in which he's half-hugging the toilet bowl and poking at his own feces, which he's convinced have blood in them.

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