DIRECTED BY: Spike Jonze WRITTEN BY: Charlie Kaufman
CAST: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, John Malkovich, Cathrine Keener, Charlie Cheen
Runtime: USA:112
RATING: 10/10 - BEST PICTURE - #3
Have you ever wanted to be someone else? How about..John Malcovich? Well, maybe you can…
Original. If I would choose one word to describe this film, I would choose this one. I can guarantee you that you have never seen anything like that before. Forget formulas, physics and scientific discoveries. The world is not what it seems!
Craig (John Cusack) is a talented puppeteer, whose ingenious art is uninteresting in the modern world. He lives in a small apartment with his wife Lotte (Cameron Diaz), whose passion for animals invaded the house. Unappreciated and ignored, Craig decides to switch professions to make a living. He is then given the opportunity to work as a file clerk in a Manhattan building. It should also be explained that the floor of his office building is 7 1/2 . Squeezed in between the seventh and eighth floors, it's only about 5 feet high, which means everybody walks around stooped. This adds to the comic weirdness and the disorientation that are the film's motor. What follows is one of film's trippiest pieces of surrealism. Once there, he discovers a portal that literally sucks him into the mind of John Malkovich. For brief, virtual-celebrity bursts, he takes in the universe through the actor's eyes but only for 15 minutes, and then, for some reason, he gets spit out onto the New Jersey Turnpike. Experience over. But these 15 minutes of borrowed celebrity are about to change his life, especially when he finds he can repeat it at will by reentering the portal. What clinches the arc of change is Craig sharing his discovery with two women - his wife, and Maxine (Catherine Keener), who works in an office down the hall and has caught Craig's eye. This unexpected discovery gives them many interesting opportunities. When Maxine hears about the portal, she manipulates Craig, using his feelings for her to earn some money by selling trips into John Malkovich's head. In no time, there's a never ending line of people who, unsure they'll ever get their own 15 minutes of fame, are eager to pay to get inside Malkovich...
And then of course the obvious question: Why Malcovich? Perhaps because Malcovich is exactly that - a symbol of the American dream. A common man that has made it to the top and thus stands for everything that modern society requires - glamour, fame, money and automatically happiness. But it doesn't really matter why exactly Malcovich. We're all dying to be someone else.
Charlie Kaufman's screenplay is incredibly funny, a sort of modern visualization of 'Alice in Wonderland' , cheerfully presenting the universe as God's own pinball machine. But it is also filled with global questions and heavy philosophy. Several very serious and frightening themes are posed. Kaufman takes some satirical whacks at celebrity worship and New Age self-absorption -- "Don't stand in the way of my self-actualization as a man," Lotte tells Craig. A strange, paranoiac reaction which occurred to Craig's wife after entering Malcovich, pretty much the same experience as looking into multiple mirrors. The film has layer upon layer of things to say about identity, image, the cult of celebrity, appearance vs. reality, modes of communication, mass entertainment, contemporary values, manipulation and even the quest for eternal life. And love as a form of insanity. It is a frightening tale about the loss of identity, as a sacrifice to the American dream. We live in a world where everyone struggle to become the ones that our society idolizes, downplaying the individuality, until it completely disappears. A society where who you are is never good enough, and you simply have to be someone else. The obvious question is of course whether it make your life any better. According to society it should. But will it?
John Cusack must certainly be one of the greatest actors of his generation and Cameron Diaz is a funny choice as the sweet, but physically unattractive Lotte. Cast against type in a completely different and strange role, Diaz simply shines. Catherine Keener is likewise a bold and successful choice, looking incredibly right for the part. Yet, and I know that it sounds strange; it is John Malcovich who is the star of this film. Playing with a sense of self-parody, Malcovich portrays a version of John Malcovich that we all probably imagine, a certain stereotype of a celebrity's life. There is no real John Malcovich. He is just a vessel, a suit, a mask that anybody can put on. For Malcovich as an actor this means that he has to copy the other actors' interpretation of their characters. It seems so easy and so believable that you never doubt the strange events unfolding before your eyes. It is a completely different illustration, that makes an incredible impact on the mind and soul. First-time director Spike Jonze presents this absurd material in a muted, naturalistic visual style - unhurried. And the idea of changing bodies becomes as common as breathing. Look for several amusing cameo roles, such as Charlie Sheen and Brad Pitt. The film is a hilarious comedy, a demanding drama, a terrible tragedy. A philosophic, frighteningly prophetic tale, a dark parody on society, a meditation on human nature. A film that seems completely against the classic Hollywood entertainment style and above the familiar 'copy-and-paste' traditions. In simple words: this is by far one of the greatest achievements of the year and one of the most original films of this decade.
JM Inc. has acquired the proprietary rights to a unique portal. By traversing this portal into a ripe vessel body, you'll find yourself briefly 'being' another person. As this other person you will experience and enjoy their corporeal existence; some travelers have even reported a limited ability to control the vessel body. At the conclusion of your journey, you ejected from the vessel body. A JM Inc. will be there to greet you and provide return transportation. CALL NOW!!
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