How to mess with your brain, AND other peoples. (Being John Malkovich (DVD))

Member Name: hulahoop

Product:	Being John Malkovich (DVD)
Date:	05/10/00 (47 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliantly different from anything I've ever seen

Disadvantages: its different (not necessarily enjoyed by all)

As I asked my boyfriend, 'Who is John Malkovich?', and he replied, 'Oh, you know, that guy from the Michelle Pfeiffer film', in comedy timing a taxi driver on the film asked the very same thing of the man himself. 'Weren't you in that thing about the jewel thief?', is the question repeated several times. And comedy it is. Not in its strictest sense, more in the fact that the scenarios are unbelievably odd in a way that you MUST laugh or you will cry.

'Being John Malkovich' boasts a cast including John Cusack, Cameron Diaz and, of course, John Malkovich (he was in Dangerous Liaisons, I am reliably informed - very famous, I am just an ignoramus). It left me wondering what would have happened had Malkovich refused to do the film. He is perfect for the part (not just because his name is, coincidentally, John Malkovich - hehe) because of his eccentricities and interest. Also your average occasional-film-goer may not know who he is.

He comes into the film quite late, after Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) reveals his life to the audience, which shows him as a talented-yet-unemployed puppeteer who lives out his fantasies by creating puppets that look like people he knows. I founf this very creepy, but it is dealt with so humorously that I could not help but feel a kind of empathy with the man. This bizarre introduction really adds intrigue and, not caring how strange it got, I wanted to understand the relevance of the puppetry. This actually came towards the end of the film when Craig becomes John Malkovich through a bizarre twist.

This film seems to be obsessed with bizarre twists. At first you are confronted with a frumpy animal collecting Cameron Diaz who plays the rather dull lifeless Lotte, wife of Craig. Craig seems to have the more interesting life, working on the 7 1/2th floor in a filing company, with a hard-of-hearing secretary, an 105 year old carrot juice obsessed boss, and a scarily sext colleague Maxi
ne. I loved the 7 1/2th floor thing which added a lot of humour and just made the film feel like a child's fantasy story, especially when combined with the tunnel leading to a vessel in Malkovich's head. When this is discovered and Craig and Maxine start to make money out of it the plot starts to get a little confused.

Comically, and surprisingly considering her weighty conceitedness, everyone wants Maxine. I found it refreshing that she was so much sexier than Cameron Diaz' character, and also the way that the relationship between her and Maxine is dealt with.

A strange love affaircomes about between a woman and a woman in a man's head. Also refreshingly different. Then the plot is thickened by Craig's boss and his own plans to ensure that he can live forever in someone elses brain. You soon get the melting pot of the plot as everyone works out their differences in one way or another. A child is born of the bizarre threesome and the story continues into a new generation.

Perhaps this film could raise questions about the current fixation with living forever and prolonging lifespans. However, I really think it is more a film to be watched in light humour and not to be thought about too seriously. The acting is good enough for the whole strange story to seem a reality, and the plot so similar to childrens fantasy tales that you might as well fell like a child while watching it. I laughed all the way through this, mainly because I enjoy silly things, but its originality really grabbed me and I was so glad that someone had the guts to actually make it. This film works as really effective escapism, and perhaps provides a little scope for fantasties and imagination in adults. I go for anything that is a bit different, and for me this was spectacular. Go and watch it, even if it is just to remind yourself that even Cameron Diaz can look frumpy.

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