Review of Being John Malkovich (1999) by Brendan C — 03 Feb 2013

Ever wanted to be another person? A celebrity in particular? Well this film shows you what it is like to be John Malkovich for 15 minutes. John Malkovich is one of the great American actors, and it would be amazing to be him. Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) is a struggling puppeteer, who gets a job working at the 7 1/2 floor of an office. He finds a trap door behind a filing cabinet in his office, and goes into it, and discovers that when he goes in he is in John Malkovich's had. He can see through his eyes, and hear what he thinks.

For Craig that is the greatest thing in the world. As a puppeteer he wants to be able to control the puppets he has, and he will be able to control Malkovich with his skill. At first he believes that consciousness is a curse. His life is kind of a mess. He looks like a mess, he actually looks like john Lennon on the cover of Abbey Road. His house is a mess. He has a monkey, cat, lizard, and a dog. Everything about his life is a mess. His home is like a zoo, because of his pet obsessed wife (Cameron Diaz), and he even looks like a total mess. He escapes to his puppet workshop when he is feeling down, as a form of release.

His job on the low ceiling 7 1/2 floor as a files clerk in the Mertin Flemmer building in New York is what leads to him finding the portal. He meets a woman named Maxine who he finds attractive, and wants to be with her, but she doesn't have the same interest in him. You don't like her actually. She ends up starting a relationship with Malkovich, and Lotte (Cameron Diaz) is watching it through malcovich's eyes. However when you go into the portal, after about 15 minutes you get spat out and you land by the toll booth that you have to go through to get from New jersey to New York City.

This is a hard film to review, because of how weird it is. It is great, and it is mind bending. This was the first film that Charlie Kaufman wrote the screenplay for. He is a weird, brilliant, and very creative, and imaginative person. An incredibly weird genius who writes a lot of masterpieces. This is one of his best. Great film.