Being John Malkovich
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Movie Reviews of Being John Malkovich
Movie Review: Who is pulling my strings?
Summary: 5 Stars
While I have seen and enjoyed this film many times I figured with Where the Wild Things Are about to come out I'd give this film a re-look-see and write a proper review for it. BJM is on it's surface satirical take on modern famous types, unknown creative types, and what it is that makes those at both ends of the spectrum tick. Now while the true creative type from any discipline is compelled by unknown forces there are also those amongst them that are, shall we say, compelled by less pure forces. Those being fame and money. Still, even the pure artist needs recognition of some sort. After all, art is just another form of communication. Without anyone to communicate with an artist can go ever inwards and mad, I suspect, if one is not understood by others on some level. Craig Schwartz, is a pure artist who is at the start of the film misunderstood and not communicating, no matter how hard he tries, to those around him. As events unfold his wife leaves him and he is eventually thrust into the head of real life actor John Malkovich. This is where the film departs from what is typical in mainstream movies. Ambiguity, symbolism, and exploration of existential concepts is not what most people go to the films to enjoy decoding, thinking about, or passively watching. Soon sexuality and the male and female body types we are born into are questioned and subsequently broken down. Also challenged is talent, fame and the notion that recognition comes from good art or just any established face in the public eye with some money to spend to explore any whim. Finally the film brings into question our very lives and if in fact we are in control of anything, or if some unseen force controls us. Craig Schwartz is a puppeteer who in fact winds up controlling John Malkovich and using his fame and money to further his personal self indulgent need to be a puppeteer is a never ending tunnel of mirrors like the very universe itself, where particles and matter are seemingly infinite outwards and inwards. This same topic is explored in other films written by Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York being the first that comes to mind with the never ending warehouses and smaller and smaller paintings.
In ending we see a new life born, unaware that it is controlled by hidden forces. Is this each and every one of our experiences? This is food for thought in BJM. The film never fully explains itself and that is why the film is so great. For if everything were explained and summed up then there would be no reason to re-watch the film again and agin, seeing it fresh each time it's explored down the road.
The inclusion of animals and higher primates in the film is symbolic. I suspect it alludes to our evolution, base animal nature and how we so often deny that we are in fact just another animal on this planet, albeit a creative one, apart but the same from all other creatures.
The 1/2 floor represents our subconscious, and also animal side. Much is explored and hashed out in the 1/2 floor of that building. things go in and things go out. Personalities and desires, thoughts, hopes, dreams. The characters want to go back to the portal that is in there. The portal to ones true self.
Comedy, a trait that most likely developed as a result of our higher brain functions, is explored as well. Comedy in this film is approached as absurdity. Existence is a bit absurd and this film takes it head on. Comedy probably developed as a buffer from the complex human brain running itself mad with endless thoughts about the nature of existence. These thoughts are explored and bubble up and out of the subconscious to the surface.
This film is a masterwork by the writer and director. It will be remembered long after the drivel of the day is long forgotten. This is one of the great films of our times.
Movie Review: One of the Most Wildly Inventive American Movies Shows Filmmaking Brio and Genuine Heart
Summary: 5 Stars
If anything, I enjoy the audacity and manic creativity of this 1999 black comedy more now than when it was first released. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, who sends up the creative block he experienced after writing the film's script in 2002's "Adaptation", plainly refuses to use any accepted cinematic convention to tell the wildly eccentric story of Craig Schwartz, a downtrodden puppeteer who has a must-be-seen-to-be-believed adventure. An uncompromising artiste who cannot find work within his craft, he decides to accept a job as a file clerk to please his frumpy, animal-loving wife, Lotte. Things immediately go awry when he sees his place of employment is on the dwarf-sized 7 1/2th floor of a Manhattan office building. He becomes drawn to an ice-cold co-worker, an apparent femme fatale named Maxine, but the story really escalates into high gear when he discovers a secret passageway that turns out to be the consciousness of actor John Malkovich.
The plot convolutions only get weirder yet strangely more resonant as Craig and others get to experience "being John Malkovich", including the actor himself. What subsequently happens is constantly off-kilter, but Kaufman brings perceptive insight into all the major characters in ways that are completely unpredictable. The beauty is that repeated viewings only bring out plot nuances that were not as apparent the previous times. Director (and sometime actor) Spike Jonze is an inspired choice to lead the proceedings since he lends an almost verité-style to the film making the lunacy seem human-sized. Casting is pure gold with a bedraggled-looking John Cusack appropriately awestruck as Craig, a cast-against-type Cameron Diaz energized by her curiosity as Lotte and Catherine Keener sharply feline as Maxine. Orson Bean brings out all the eccentricities of Craig's oddly deranged boss, and no one is better cast than Malkovich as a wildly narcissistic version of himself, especially as the plot spins further into a Freudian fantasy of monstrous proportions.
This is wildly inventive filmmaking that may alienate several viewers, but it really should be embraced as the kind of bold experimentation that mainstream Hollywood rarely attempts. The 2002 DVD extras are also pure gold, including an interview with Jones conducted under mock-stress; a brief featurette, "An Intimate Portrait of the Art of Puppeteering," that spotlights the behind-the-scenes work performed by puppet master Phil Huber; and a short called "Intimate Portrait of the Art of Background Driving", which purportedly documents the experiences of extras driving cars in the New Jersey Turnpike scenes where all of the Malkovich travelers end up. Along with the original theatrical trailer and several TV promotional spots, there are also two played-straight videos, excerpts of which are shown in the film - one the "7 ½ Floor Orientation" and the other the vaunted pseudo-documentary, "American Arts and Culture Presents: John Horatio Malkovich, Dance of Despair and Disillusionment". A genuinely entertaining package overall.
Movie Review: I think; I feel; I suffer; I like this movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Being John Malkovich is one of the most thematically ambitious films of the 1990's. It delves figuratively and literally into the weaknesses and complexities of the human psyche through the self-revealing and often comical actions of the main characters. Through bizarre situations, a subtle but emotional soundtrack, and a tiny portal on the 7 1/2 floor of an office building, Malkovich investigates the multi-faceted aspects of human beings, and the troubles they face in trying to find themselves.
Each character in this film is aware, sometimes painfully aware, of his or her identity, and the extremes that they reach in trying to change, control, and manipulate their identities suggest that consciousness is perhaps more trouble than it's worth. Craig Schwartz, played by John Cusack, is a talented puppeteer, and therefore a master at adopting multiple personalities, but until he finds a real person to imitate, he remains in his workshop, alone and unsatisfied with his life. That is, until he meets the magnetic Maxine, who's confidence and boldness enchants Craig for the entirety of the movie.
It seems logical to assume that if Craig is unhappy with his identity, then he could be happier if he wasn't aware of himself at all. As Craig says, "Consciousness is a terrible curse - I think; I feel; I suffer." Once Craig discovers the Malkovich portal in his office, people start lining up, literally, to partake in the life-altering experience; everyone, that is, except Maxine. Not once does she reveal the slightest interest in going through the portal. Maxine is comfortable in her own skin - a quality which Craig, and pretty much everyone who meets her, greatly admires - but it is not a comfort that comes from being ignorant of her own identity. Maxine is very aware of the power of self-assurance, a power which she uses to influence Craig, his wife Lotte, and Malkovich himself. While Craig proves that consciousness coupled with insecurity result in depression and desperation, Maxine exists at the opposite end of the spectrum, mixing consciousness with greed, and resulting in manipulation and callousness.
John Malkovich further reinforces the idea the consciousness kills; that "ignorance is bliss." Before he discovers Maxine's true intentions, he is blissful and carefree, with a strong acting career and a hot new girlfriend. But once he finds out, he becomes paranoid, frantic, and untrusting. When he consults his friend Charlie Sheen for advice, Charlie says, perhaps more revealingly than intended, "The truth is for suckers, Johnny boy." Indeed, it is Malkovich's conscience that steals his happiness.
If you've ever wanted to be someone else, or at least wondered what it would be like, then Being John Malkovich is a must see. A wry comedy that makes you think; an intellectual adventure that makes you laugh -- Being John Malkovich is a non-oppressive, insightful, and captivating glance into the deepest of human desires and insecurities.
Movie Review: One of the most original comedies
Summary: 5 Stars
Charlie Kaufman, the most creative screenwriter currently working today, writes his first theatrical screenplay (Which he was nominated for the Academy Award of Best Original Screenplay). Kaufman's written some TV screenplay but this is his first major one. He is the genius behind not only Being John Malkovich but also two other brilliant and twisted mind-benders: Adaptation (second Oscar nod) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (a hopeful win). These three films would rank of being the most original comedies ever made. Being John Malkovich is an ingenious dark comedy about three oddball characters who discover a hidden portal which sucks you into the mind of John Malkovich (played by himself). After your 10 minutes of being stuck inside his mind, you're automatically sucked out and dumped near the New Jersey turnpike. Wow! Bizare, huh?
John Cusack plays Craig, a frusterated and very talented puppeteer in New York who lives in a tiny apartment that's crowded by a bunch of numerous animals (Apes, dogs, birds etc), courtesy from his weirdo, animal-loving wife Lotte (Cameron Diaz, nearly unrecognizable with that frizzy head of hair. She's never looked this bad). Craig soon finds a job as a filing clerk in a large building in Manhattan in floor 7 1/2 (Yes, literally 7 1/2), which seems to be quite a hassle when using the elevator to get in and walking in a position that would have scoliosis examiners wanting to schedule appointments with these employees. Craig's meets and falls unrequitedly for co-worker Maxine (Oscar nominated Catherine Keener), a sardonic and cold-hearted woman which leaves you with the question of asking; Why would anyone have lovey feeling for such a cold-fish woman? Another question pops in mind too; Why would any woman return the favor of loving Craig back (Since he's such a boring loser-dork)? She wants nothing to do with him but she teases him occassionally. After Craig soon discovers the portal to John Malkovich, he tells Lotte and Maxine.
It increasingly becomes an obsession for these characters and everything escalates from bad to worse. Craig becomes increasingly psychotic and obsessed with Maxine, Lotte and Maxine have a lesbian relationship (But only when Maxine is in Malkovich's mind), Maxine soon ends up having affairs with Malkovih every now and then, New York residents end up knowing of the portal which is a $200 dollar fee that Craig and Maxine decide to advertise, Malkovich soon begins to realize that something is wrong, etc. I can't possibly go any further since I'd be giving too much away.
Being John Malkovich is not for everyone since many viewers will find it frusterating and and it's not a real laugh-out-loud kind of comedy. Sure, it has amusing moments, but it's the film's original screenplay and terrific performances that leave you hooked. But if you're really into film, I definitely recommend.
Movie Review: The best and most inspired American Comedy of the Nineties!
Summary: 5 Stars
The amazing introduction in which we watch two puppets conducted by versatile hands works out into perfection because the best is yet to come.
This is one of those few films you love from the first five minutes running time. This a genial cross between Terry Gilliam, Luis Buñuel and Woody Allen. Surreal and irreverent; caustic and astonishing; unexpected and provocative.
In the seven and a half floor of a building ( a hidden homage to the desperation and troubles of Marcello in 8 ½ perhaps?), the people is obligated to walk like a hunchback and this several deviation leads to unexplored realities. This bizarre office encloses a secret; a portal - an illegal but unexpected device - who lands in the intimate territory of John Malkovich 's mind. During fifteen minutes. Interesting cipher: Do you remember my kind reader about the famous fifteen glory minutes of every human being must live according Andy Warhol?
Three different attitudes will turn around that surprising discovery : admiration in first instance and then a clever vehicle to get his unstoppable desire by John Cussack, a gold mine to make easy money by his job partner and the unexpected reaction of his beloved wife who discovers - a Woody Allen typical lure - behind her exaggerated devotion for the animals (their home is almost a zoo) the true sexual vocation.
As you may expect the existential anguish, delirious obsession, greed and the cruel torture that means for Malkovich when he feels invaded his intimacy for outer Peeping Toms will make o you to break the logic links and enjoy and plunge in those weird but not least funny and hyper original script.
Two previous movies come to my mind that may be close in this sense: All of me and Zelig, both films deconstruct the ego and rebuild them, but demanding its prize (nothing is free).
John Cussack is terrific in his role. He is nowadays, one of the most versatile and talented actors of the American Cinema. Cameron Díaz is brilliant as the neurotic wife and finally a sincere ovation for the artistic direction.