Being John Malkovich
(1999)
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Original is far too understated a term to describe this picture, brought to you by the surreal, twisted minds of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and actor-director Spike Jonze. The story concerns a puppeteer, Craig Schwartz (John Cusack), who discovers his office has a secret portal that leads directly into the brain of one of America's most popular actors, John Malkovich (Malkovich himself, in a hilariously self-mocking appearance). When the journey ends fifteen minutes later, the participant is spewed onto the side of the New Jersey Turnpike. Schwartz uses his discovery as a way to get closer to fellow coworker Maxine (the always fascinating Catherine Keener). Together, the pair form JM, INC., which allows ordinary citizens to join in on the fun for 200 dollars a pop. But when Craig's wife Lotte (a homely Cameron Diaz), is seduced by Maxine while in Malkovich's body, things begin to unfurl at an even more outrageous pace. Sound confusing? |
Spike Jonze's crazy, surreal comedy consistently dazzles while never losing its grip on unreality. The daringly original, metaphysical fantasy still finds time to ponder the human status quo, sexual gender and identity, as down-on-his-luck street puppeteer John Cusack takes a job at a strange Manhattan firm where a small door hidden behind a filing cabinet reveals a dark tunnel that leads into the head of movie star John Malkovich. When he tells co-worker Catherine Keener about his new-found celebrity joy ride, they form a business partnership that offers jaded New Yorkers the chance to be the actor for 15 minutes at $200 a time. Super-smart, hip and darkly subversive (the sequence where Malkovich enters his own brain portal and finds a world completely populated by images of himself is a classic), Jonze's Kafkaesque mind trip is so far-out in conservative Hollywood terms it's a real shock to the system. The fact that it manages to carry its open-mouthed audience through every awesomely enigmatic turn is its greatest accomplishment.
Halliwell's Film Guide
A witty, highly original comedy that manages to be both surreal and ordinary in its depiction of the world and the everyday oddballs that inhabit it, though it does disappear up its own inventiveness towards the end.