Review of Being John Malkovich (1999) by Shane S — 08 Dec 2010

Spike Jonze's tragicomic directorial debut, an adaptation of Charlie Kaufman's equally-downer script concerning the fallacy of the obsession with celebrity and the meaning of life in general, proves to be a timeless classic that doesn't force you to know every aspect of John Malkovich's life (but the payoff is better if you know what they mean by "jewel thief film" and "that film where you played a retard") and instead focuses on a deliberately insane take on how celebrities control the masses, how the masses control filmmakers, etc. In the year that brought us the similarly-snarky "American Beauty", the heartwrenching "Toy Story 2", and the heartwarming "Rushmore" came this quiet entry - a film that proved to be a bit of a sleeper hit and proof to why originality is still viable in Hollywood.

It's hard to explain the plot without spoiling it, so I'm going to use the condensed version I have read in many textbooks and plot synopses. Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) is a struggling puppeteer in a loveless marriage with his pet-obsessed and seemingly delusional wife, Elaine (Cameron Diaz). After a particularly disastrous adult puppet show on the street, Craig gets a job at a strange office building with a half-floor between the 7th and 8th floors. While everybody seems to be equally quirky, including the nervous and promiscuous boss (Orson Bean), Craig feels as if it's the real world - until he discovers a door behind some filing cabinets. Apparently boarded up, he walks in - only to be injected into the mind of John Malkovich (Malkovich) for approximately 15 minutes, after which he is ejected onto the New Jersey Turnpike. While apparently teaming up with Maxine, a co-worker (Catherine Keener), to exploit this newfound phenomenon (which results in quite possibly the greatest scene in the history of filmmaking, which consists of "Malkovich" to infinity), we know that Craig has darker intentions to exploit Malkovich's success and eventually hijacks the body in order to fulfill his own dreams. At the same time, the boss and several of his friends have taken a strange interest in Malkovich - which is made known to a now-disillusioned Elaine.

While this film is known for the "Malkovich malkovich malkovich" sequence that has creeped out and made millions of people laugh, the reality is that this film is one of the most biting satires of all time. Look at my introduction to the review to realize how it's a satire - and why it's so biting. This is not foreign to Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman - they use this sense of Woody Allen hyper-realism and fantastical comedy-drama to communicate various problems with Hollywood, most mainly obsession with celebrity that was also examined in disturbing detail in Fellini's "La dolce vita" and somewhat in Jonze's and Kaufman's similar "Adaptation." John Malkovich's character is paranoid, but for the most part, he has no definition other than an afraid actor who has sex with the person who's exploiting him in the first place. What happens to Malkovich is quite possibly one of the most downbeat sequences in the film (other than the ending) - it goes to show that we, in the long run, don't have an individuality that we can call our own. It's someone's own set of morals that contributes to the full picture, much like Craig and Elaine were to Malkovich.

I recommend this film to ages 15 and older. The language is not coarse, save for some comic profanities, and the sex, while still sex, is not really graphic (it's played for comedy). However, there are countless thematic elements - existentialism, rivalries, LGBT, loss of individuality, influence on humans by humans, a traumatizing-yet-slightly-humorous flashback attributed to a chimpanzee - that will scare kids. And if your kid isn't used to a man looking at clones of himself, then they should not watch this film. That, to me, is the ultimate payoff - to see Malkovich get fooled into thinking that they're going to shut down their business solely out of his sanity.