Being John Malkovich Review
by "David N. Butterworth" (dnb AT dca DOT net)January 5th, 2000
BEING JOHN MALKOVICH
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 1999 David N. Butterworth
**** (out of ****)
When a mud-caked woman (Catherine Keener) in a ditch alongside the New Jersey turnpike screams to another (Cameron Diaz) that she's carrying *her* child, you snicker nervously, not just because of the absurdity of the situation but because, in the scheme of things, you believe it.
That's the strength of Charlie Kaufman's brutally original screenplay for "Being John Malkovich," a film that's... well, just out there.
"Being John Malkovich" is the kind of film you might want to see several times to appreciate fully: every characterization, every line of dialogue, every frame of film stock has something unique to offer. Even a twenty-word synopsis of the plot screams originality in such bold brushstrokes that you wonder how this picture even got made: "An unemployed puppeteer takes a job as a file clerk and discovers a portal into the head of John Malkovich." That's "John Malkovich, The Actor" by the way.
This portal only allows access to every living, breathing Malkovich moment for fifteen minutes at a time though. Then you're spat out into that ditch alongside the NJTP.
Channeling Kaufman's outrageously surreal imagination is first-time feature director Spike Jonze (he was the fourth GI in "Three Kings"). A former director of Beastie Boys rock videos, Jonze deserves enormous credit here. He doesn't get carried away with the strangeness of it all, and keeps his editor under tight control.
"Being John Malkovich" features a wonderful, largely unrecognizable cast including John Cusack as the down-on-his-luck puppeteer (great puppets by the way), Diaz as his pet shop owner wife who brings her work home with her (did I mishear her or did she actually ask her *monkey* to help with the dishes?), and Keener as the ice-cold office fatale who knows an entrepreneurial opportunity when she sees one. All three are excellent (Keener excellent? I did say she was unrecognizable).
But extra kudos must go to the eponymous John "Horatio" Malkovich.
Most actors would kill to get their name above a film's title, but Malkovich does the impossible: he gets his name *in* it. And he deserves it too. Not only is he a terrific sport throughout, but he plays himself brilliantly (which is harder than it sounds) and then adds to the fun by playing himself possessed by John Cusack. It doesn't end, or even begin there--just wait until Malkovich enters his own portal! It's wacky, cerebral entertainment that knows no boundaries.
"Being John Malkovich" is easily the weirdest film of 1999. It's also the best.
--
David N. Butterworth
dnb@dca.net
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