Review of Being John Malkovich (1999) by Panta O — 06 Jul 2013

Fourteen years I am waiting to see this movie... long fourteen years! And there was always a "valid" reason to delay watching it... not anymore. Finally I saw this inventive comedy-fantasy written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze. And I simply loved it. I loved the stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, and John Malkovich, I loved the story, I love the way everything was put together, I loved the feeling I had after watching the movie... Craig Schwartz (Cusack), a puppeteer who finds a portal that leads into Malkovich's mind, and his "adventures" kept surprising me during the movie, from the start to the end - never stopping or slowing down. When Cusack asked his agent to present him with the "craziest, most unproduceable script you can find" he didn't know what was he getting involved in... but after reading it he was so impressed with the script, that he asked his agent to follow its progress and book him an audition, with which he won the role. Charlie Kaufman's idea of Being John Malkovich originated simply as "a story about a man who falls in love with someone who is not his wife" and he kept adding further elements to the story which he found entertaining, such as floor 7 1/2 of the Mertin Flemmer building... actually at the first versions John Malkovich was nowhere to be seen! When all the studios in 1994 had an opportunity to read the final version - they all turned it down. Hoping to find a producer, Kaufman sent the script to Francis Ford Coppola, who passed it on to his then-son-in-law Spike Jonze and he read it in 1996. In 1997 he accepted to direct the movie.

This outstandingly exciting movie full with surprises will keep you entertained with crazy story, excellent dialogues intelligently shortened to a bare minimum told by the variety of unique individuals who you'll remember long after watching this work of art: John Cusack stars as Craig, a street puppeteer with his dark and neurotic puppets; Cameron Diaz as Craig's wife, Lotte, running a pet store, and their home is overrun with animal boarders, most of them deeply disturbed; Catherine Keener is Craig's co-worker Maxine, and she has her way of listening with her lips slightly parted, ready to interrupt by exposing you for the fool that you are; John Malkovich is imaginary version of himself and he becomes a part of a story when Craig finds a small doorway which is some kind of temporal-spatial portal, ending up inside the brain of the actor...

If you are a fan of stories with a twist which can make funny serious and serious funny, which can balance perfectly sad with satirical, weird with touching, and keep you satisfied for almost two hours - there is one for you!