Completely bizaare (Being John Malkovich (DVD))

Member Name: neinel

Product:	Being John Malkovich (DVD)
Date:	03/11/00 (20 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well written and directed, good acting on the whole, one of the most original films of the last year

Disadvantages: Cameron Diaz's weak performance, the story's a tiny bit inplausible

This is one of those films that blurs the line between fact and fiction, and it does so very effectively. It stars John Cusack as long haired, puppet enthusiast, Craig Schwartz. His oddball wife, Lotte, is played by a flimsy Cameron Diaz. Craig is desperately trying to get his puppeting career to take off but is having no success and eventually realises he has to get a 9 - 5 job like everyone else. He sees an advert in the paper placed by a firm looking for a file clerk and applies for it. When he goes for the interview, a woman in the lift tells him he wants floor 7 1/2. This building has a floor in between the 7th and 8th floors that is about 5ft in height and this is where Craig's prospective workplace is. Its history dates back to the 19th century when Captain Mertin, the Irish seaman whom owned the building at the time, met a dwarf woman who complained about feeling alienated by high ceilings and big chairs, so in a matter of seconds he vowed to marry her and build her a whole floor in his building that would be in proportion for her size. In recent years, the floor has been traditionally used by businesses trying to cut corners in their budget- 'the overheads are low, ha ha'.

Craig gets the job and one day, when he drops a file behind the filing cabinet and pulls it out, he discovers a door that leads to a long black tunnel. Out of curiosity, he checks it out and WHAM, next thing you know he's living through the eyes of accomplished thespian, John Malkovich. For those who haven't heard of John Malkovich, he is actually a real-life actor and has starred in "Con Air" and "The Man in the Iron Mask" among many other films. Craig is living inside John Malkovich for 15 minutes and then, suddenly, he falls out of the sky and lands on the side of a New Jersey freeway and is himself again. He was inside John Malkovich but not actually controlling him, just seeing through his eyes. Craig then tells his wife and a colleagu
e named Maxine about his discovery and what then ensues is a completely insane story whereby the characters use the initially unsuspecting Mr Malkovich for their personal ends. Craig has fallen madly in love with Maxine but she is repulsed by him and prefers his wife, Lotte - but only when Lotte is in the body of John Malkovich. It then unfolds that the story about Captain Mertin and the mysterious door to John Malkovich's head may be linked and there's something that Craig should know about his discovery that could cost him dearly...

The idea behind this film is completely crazy, in fact so crazy that it just about works. John Cusack is very good in his role but Cameron Diaz is terrible in hers. I normally like her as an actress but she gives a very weak performance and her hairstyle is awful. I'd like to meet the Mr Charlie Kaufman who wrote the script, it would take a certain eccentric (to put it mildly) flair to come up with such a bizaare idea. Spike Jonze, the director, seems a little unconventional himself. If you get the chance to see the movie on DVD, watch the interview with Spike Jonze. He is driving along and answering questions about the film and seems really worn out. He keeps on pausing in mid sentence and heaving. Then he says to the interviewer "Excuse me", bolts out of the car and pukes up right in the middle of a busy street and then dives back into the car and zooms off. Crazy.

Aside from the sheer bizaareness of the story, it is well written and directed and, once you forget about the complete unlikelihood of it all, it is a very entertaining film. I'm not sure if John Malkovich acts well in this film because I don't know he he behaves in real life but his presence is very good and the scene where Lotte is chasing Maxine through his subconscious is hilarious. The ending is very ironic and funny and I reccomend the film highly if you are looking for a lighthearted but completely strange film to vie
w. Just don't look behind that filing cabinet in the office you work in. There's nothing of interest there...

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