Review of Being John Malkovich (1999) by Scot C — 29 Nov 2010

"I have seen a world that NO man should see!".

The first time I saw this film, I was very young. Now watching it again 11 years later, I realise that back then I wasnt mature enough to appreciate it. Charlie Kauffman wrote this screenplay before Malkovich even knew about it. And it is said that Kauffman and the director Spike Jonze flew to Malkovich's home in France to ask him to do it, and Malkovich was said to be horrified but intrigued by reading it. Well I understand why, its bizzare, and i'm sure anyone would be taken by surprise if someone wrote a screenplay to this manner about them. And I suppose there is something about Mr Malkovich that is intensely intrigueing, that would make this a very interesting subject, especially getting to see the world through his eyes, as odd as that sounds. Firstly I would not want to be the one that makes Malko an angry man, but seeing him playing a 'fictionalised' version of himself is very interesting. This story is extremely well written, and in my opinion it is genious screenwriting. John Cusack gives the performance of his career, and the rest of the supporting cast is solid as well. Charlie Kauffman has a superb habit of finding the dark corners of any character he writes, as well as he did in the film 'Adaptation'. This film I know, would not appeal to everyone, but you have to go into it with an open mind. Spike Jonze and Kauffman seem like one being with this product, and almost like they've seen into each others mind, and the result is something so rare, and a gem cemented in cinema history. This movie is odd, dark, surprising, humorous, ridiculous, dramatic, and basically anything you get out of it. I'm still left thinking, how was it possible for someone to write this story... it is absolute genious.