..
|
malkovich,
malkovich, malkovich.
loved
this movie? hated it? jump
to the discussion
boards
and talk about your fave actors, movies, music, or whatever else
is on your mind!
|
copyright
©1999-2000
DigsMagazine.com.
|
|
flick pick |
Being John Malkovich
1999
Directed by: Spike Jonze
Starring: John Cusack, Catherine Keener, Cameron
Diaz, John Malkovich
Language: English
Look for it at the video store under:
comedy, new release
Watch it when you’re in the mood for something:
darkly comic, fabulous, hip |
Plot synopsis
Being John Malkovich is
an oddball fantasy about an unsuccessful puppeteer named Craig Schwartz.
Urged by his wife to find something to tide himself over until he can
support himself performing his non-child-friendly (but beautiful) puppet
shows, Craig begins work as a filing clerk in a strange office on a
bizarrely-low-ceilinged 7-1/2th floor. One day, he stumbles across a
small hidden door. The door reveals a tunnel that allows him,
miraculously and inexplicably, to pop into John Malkovich’s head! He
sees what Malkovich sees, feels what Malkovich feels, hears what
Malkovich hears … until fifteen minutes later, he's ejected into a
ditch by the side of the New Jersey turnpike. Eager to impress the
strikingly elegant Maxine, a co-worker who has, until now, shown utter
disdain towards him, Craig tells her about his discovery. Maxine quickly
sees this as a golden opportunity: they’ll charge $200 for 15 minute
jaunts in John Malkovich's head (this in spite of the fact that neither
Maxine nor Craig is entirely certain of who Malkovich is, beyond the
fact that he’s a somewhat famous actor.)
Review The
plot twists and quasi-philosophical questions that arise from this piece
of inspired insanity make the head spin, trying to pull it all together
in some semblance of sense. Better to just go with it … there’s a
stream-of- consciousness, surreal quality to the best sequences (such as
when the real Malkovich, having discovered to his horror that people are
paying to enter the tunnel to his head, jumps into the portal himself,
and ends up trapped in a nightmarish world where everyone looks like
him!) that's best served by refusing to over-analyze. It’s terrific to
see all the actors playing against-type so successfully. Craig is
completely devoid of the usual Cusack charm (he degenerates from a sad
loser to a complete loony); Keener, whose non-traditional beauty
generally causes her to get stuck in character roles, is completely
convincing as the object of everyone’s desire; and a well-disguised
Diaz emerges as a frumpily sympathetic character. Bravest performance of
all, though, belongs to John Malkovich, who not only does a brilliant
job of acting like himself possessed by each of the film’s other
characters, but throws himself into a role that unflatteringly paints
the Malkovich character as vain, egotistical and oversexed. Deliciously
demented and thoroughly original, Being John Malkovich will leave
you dizzily impressed and exceedingly well-entertained. o
--------------------------->
lounge . nourish
. host .
laze
. home .
|