Adaptation (Superbit Collection)
by Spike Jonze
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Chris Cooper, Jay Tavare, Meryl Streep, Nicolas Cage, Tilda SwintonDirector: Spike Jonze
Brand: Sony
Producer: Charlie Kaufman
Writer: Charlie Kaufman
Producer: Edward Saxon
Producer: Jonathan Demme
Producer: Peter Saraf
Writer: Donald Kaufman
Writer: Susan Orlean
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Closed-captioned, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 114 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-05-20
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Adaptation (Superbit Collection)
Movie Review: One of the most memorable, ingenious films ever
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw 'Adaptation' around two years ago, and I felt that I had to deliberately hold off on reviewing it. One of the major marks of a truly great film, for me anyway, is that I feel really blown away and just excited right after I finished watching, and I don't think a single other film has impressed me as much on the initial viewing as 'Adaptation'. Interestingly enough, unlike most great films, I wasn't particularly more impressed after repeated viewings, but this may just be a testament to how well done 'Adaptation is. As unusual as it is, it is written and directed with such clarity and force that it reveals almost all their is to know about it on a single viewing.
'Adaptation' is notoriously impossible to synopsize, but I'll give it a shot: 'Adaptation' is about Charlie Kaufman, an extraordinarily talented but utterly insecure screenwriter, and his attempts to write a screenplay for 'The Orchid Thief', a plotless nonfiction book about an eccentric, well, orchid thief named John Laroche. The complications come from the extreme self-referential nature of the film: The screenplay that Kaufman is writing in the film is meant to be the screenplay of the film itself. So the film is about itself, and its creation. Of course, it is still a work of fiction, albeit inspired by Kaufman's own difficulties writing the film the blending of pseudo-reality and obvious fabrication is really very amusing, as is the nonlinear narrative where we move between the events of the book 'The Orchid Thief' and Kaufman's experience writing and various bits of random background and fantasy at various moments. It's especially fun to see how the screenplay shapes itself, as at times we'll see a scene, and then learn about Kaufman's writing of it later, or we'll be able to trace how Charlie's thoughts in earlier scenes shape how later scenes play out. Sadly, I've done a terrible job of describing the bizarre structure of the film. Odds are, after reading this you still have no idea what the film is really like. However, it is actually very easy to follow while your watching.
Still, a clever setup like this isn't worth too much if you haven't got some intriguing characters and strong dialogue, both of which 'Adaptation' has in spades. Charlie Kaufman takes center stage, naturally, and he's hopelessly neurotic and filled with doubt-- a true icon for all us introvert losers. Nicolas Cage is absolutely brilliant as Charlie and his twin brother, Donald. Donald is widely different from Charlie: He's not as smart, but he's also far less self-conscious and far more socially successful. He's determined to be a screenwriter as well, though his ambitions are considerably lower than Charlie's, as he simply wants to write a formulaic, successful thriller. (Donald's screenplay, 'The Three' is one of the funniest things in the film. It's an absolutely spot-on and hilarious lampoon of the all too common big budget thriller. Most amusingly, the central conceit of the screenplay is that it centers around a serial killer, the cop on his trail and the serial killer's current victim, ending with the revelation that they are, in fact, all the same person. Charlie cannot fathom how this would work; indeed it wouldn't, and doesn't work, but no one else seems particularly interested in this fact.) Laroche and Orlean are the other central pair in the film, the former a conceited redneck intellectual who's obsessed with plants while the latter is a conventional New York intellectual, and writer for the 'New Yorker'. They have a similar relationship, in that Orlean tends to look down on Laroche, yet she is also impressed by and even jealous of how passionate and self-assured he is. Laroche is one of the most unique characters I've ever come across in any film, and Chris Kooper's Oscar was well-deserved. Kaufman is also very fair and evenhanded with his characters, as Donald and Laroche both prove to be more intelligent and observant than they first appeared, and in many ways just better people than their bohemian counterparts.
The supporting players are excellent as well. Brian Cox plays Robert McKee, a vulgar screenwriting workshop guru, whom Donald worships and Charlie loathes as a hack. (Though he eventually goes to seek him out at his most desperate moment.) Cox's role is very small, but he manages to bring out perhaps the most memorable performance in the film. (He did the exact same thing in the previous year's `The Ring'.) He is the true polar opposite of Charlie, as he is loud and forceful and accepts no nonsense whatsoever. Finally, Ron Livingstone is very funny in a small role as Charlie's agent.
And though the film has serious aspirations and is rather complex, it is still, at heart, a comedy, and a very funny one at that. It's not always laugh out loud funny, no, but it frequently is, and is always very amusing. It also has a strong human element. Again, I'd naturally identify with Charlie, but Donald and Laroche both prove to be very likable as well, despite the fact that they initially appear to be the sorta people I'd naturally dislike.
Spike Jonze's direction is as inspired as the writing. Shooting this film would doubtless be a nightmare for a merely competent director as it requires remarkable versatility and really lacks a strong central thru line. It needs to jump here and there and everywhere and still remain coherent. With Jonze at the helm it goes well beyond coherent, and it a remarkably sharp and stylish film as well.
This review is not going well. What makes 'Adaptation' so remarkable is just about impossible to describe in words, and certainly too much for me to handle. You've just gotta see it for yourself. All the Charlie Kaufman penned films that I've seen are completely worthwhile (`Being John Malkovitch', `The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' and `Confessions of A Dangerous Mind') but Adaptation is easily the best of them, and is one of the greatest films of all-time.
Grade: A
Summary of Adaptation (Superbit Collection)
The Superbit titles utilize a special high bit rate digital encoding process which optimizes video quality while offering a choice of both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. These titles have been produced by a team of Sony Pictures Digital Studios video, sound and mastering engineers and comes housed in a special package complete with a 4 page booklet that contains technical information on the Superbit process. By reallocating space on the disc normally used for value-added content, Superbit DVDs can be encoded at double their normal bit rate while maintaining full compatibility with the DVD video format.Twisty brilliance from screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze, the team who created Being John Malkovich. Nicolas Cage returns to form with a funny, sad, and sneaky performance as Charlie Kaufman, a self-loathing screenwriter who has been hired to adapt Susan Orlean's book The Orchid Thief into a screenplay. Frustrated and infatuated by Orlean's elegant but plotless book (which is largely a rumination on flowers), Kaufman begins to write a screenplay about himself trying to write a screenplay about The Orchid Thief, all the while hounded by his twin brother Donald (Cage again), who's cheerfully writing the kind of formulaic action movie that Kaufman finds repugnant. By its conclusion, Adaptation is the most artistically ambitious, most utterly cynical, and most uncategorizable movie ever to come out of Hollywood. Also starring Meryl Streep (as Susan Orlean), Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton, and Brian Cox; superb performances throughout. --Bret Fetzer
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