Being John Malkovich (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Surreal and absurd, cutting to the core. We are passengers on the Being John Malkovich train taking a journey into the wildly imaginative vision of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's existential fantasy world. Spike Jonze picked a doozy of a script for his directorial debut and actors John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, and John Malkovich himself bring this mind bending romp to life. Do not miss the experience of Being John Malkovich.

While I have seen and enjoyed this film many times I figured with Where the Wild Things Are about to come out I'd give this film a re-look-see and write a proper review for it. BJM is on it's surface satirical take on modern famous types, unknown creative types, and what it is that makes those at both ends of the spectrum tick. Now while the true creative type from any discipline is compelled by unknown forces there are also those amongst them that are, shall we say, compelled by less pure forces. Those being fame and money. Still, even the pure artist needs recognition of some sort. After all, art is just another form of communication. Without anyone to communicate with an artist can go ever inwards and mad, I suspect, if one is not understood by others on some level. Craig Schwartz, is a pure artist who is at the start of the film misunderstood and not communicating, no matter how hard he tries, to those around him. As events unfold his wife leaves him and he is eventually thrust into the head of real life actor John Malkovich. This is where the film departs from what is typical in mainstream movies. Ambiguity, symbolism, and exploration of existential concepts is not what most people go to the films to enjoy decoding, thinking about, or passively watching. Soon sexuality and the male and female body types we are born into are questioned and subsequently broken down. Also challenged is talent, fame and the notion that recognition comes from good art or just any established face in the public eye with some money to spend to explore any whim. Finally the film brings into question our very lives and if in fact we are in control of anything, or if some unseen force controls us. Craig Schwartz is a puppeteer who in fact winds up controlling John Malkovich and using his fame and money to further his personal self indulgent need to be a puppeteer is a never ending tunnel of mirrors like the very universe itself, where particles and matter are seemingly infinite outwards and inwards. This same topic is explored in other films written by Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York being the first that comes to mind with the never ending warehouses and smaller and smaller paintings.In ending we see a new life born, unaware that it is controlled by hidden forces. Is this each and every one of our experiences? This is food for thought in BJM. The film never fully explains itself and that is why the film is so great. For if everything were explained and summed up then there would be no reason to re-watch the film again and agin, seeing it fresh each time it's explored down the road.The inclusion of animals and higher primates in the film is symbolic. I suspect it alludes to our evolution, base animal nature and how we so often deny that we are in fact just another animal on this planet, albeit a creative one, apart but the same from all other creatures.The 1/2 floor represents our subconscious, and also animal side. Much is explored and hashed out in the 1/2 floor of that building. things go in and things go out. Personalities and desires, thoughts, hopes, dreams. The characters want to go back to the portal that is in there. The portal to ones true self.Comedy, a trait that most likely developed as a result of our higher brain functions, is explored as well. Comedy in this film is approached as absurdity. Existence is a bit absurd and this film takes it head on. Comedy probably developed as a buffer from the complex human brain running itself mad with endless thoughts about the nature of existence. These thoughts are explored and bubble up and out of the subconscious to the surface.This film is a masterwork by the writer and director. It will be remembered long after the drivel of the day is long forgotten. This is one of the great films of our times.

Descartes argues that the truth of our physical existence is only validated by our conscious mind -- without the ability to think, our bodies are no different than a stump of wood, or a computer, for better or for worse. Being John Malkovich provides a fascinating perspective from the flip side, that no matter how rarified our conscious mind seems or how much agency it appears to possess, it is ultimately gifted this position thanks to the physical laws in this universe. For if we were put inside the universe Malkovich lives in, where it is physically possible to make all humans but newborns vessels of a host mind--puppets controlled by hosts' mental strings--then free will is but an illusion, and morality, as we saw shone and lost in Craig and Lotte before they opened the proverbial can of worm, becomes baseless, gone and reduced to the whim of the original "gods". In this sense, if in this reality we are our own boss (hopefully), then perhaps consciousness and physical existence are not just causal like Descartes proposed, but more symbiotic than we previously believed, supporting the very fabric that weaves the reality that we live in.

It's unjust to review this film after only one viewing, but here we go anyway. Being John Malkovich, the world's first glimpse at Charlie Kaufman's brilliant and twisted mind, is an incredibly original and confident debut. If a lesser writer were to tackle the same exact premise of this film, the results would probably be disastrous and nonsensical. The triumph of the film is mostly due to Kaufman's belief and dedication to his off-the-wall material. He handles big philosophical ideas through elements of humor, fantasy, and escapism, a wonderful clash of styles. Chock full of symbolism, most of it dealing with manipulation, lack of identity, and repression, Being John Malkovich is one of those films a hip professor would show their students in a philosophy/film course 101 and murder it through dissection. Spike Jonze also made an auspicious feature length debut with this film. Whereas Kaufman is most creative on the page, Jonze's field of comfort is the screen, and he proves that with his unique camerawork and strong visual eye. His brilliance shines through in the directing of the puppeteering scenes and most prominently, the sequence in which Lotte and Maxine enter into and travel through Malkovich's subconscious. And the acting, my god! John Cusack is hilarious and pathetic as a very David Foster Wallace-esque character. Cameron Diaz is surprisingly great as Cusack's animal-loving and possibly transsexual wife. Catherine Keener's screen presence is enormous as the seductive and bazaar Maxine. And shining with his name in the title, John Malkovich gives a stunning performance in probably one of the strangest roles an actor can take in his career. He channels a pitiful puppeteer channeling Malkovich with eery exactitude. Orson Bean is also wonderful as a 105 year-old bodysnatcher and Charlie Sheen is great at being Charlie Sheen. The Coen Brothers' chief film composer, Carter Burwell, offers up a great classical piano score that perfectly suits the haunting nature of the film. Being John Malkovich is full of surprises. Not gimmicky M. Night Shyamalan twists, but meaningful and strange surprises that add layers of depth to an already deep story. It's all in a day's work for Charlie Kaufman, and the cast and crew who worked on the film couldn't have been any better. Bravo!

Mad story by Charlie Kaufman. Well directed by Spike Jonze. I watched 'Being John Malkovich' in the cinema 18 years ago with my ex-girlfriend. I remembered that I loved the film as a quirky, unique story, with brilliant visual work, fantastic script and excellent acting - so seeing it again on DVD, I was suprised to find that none of my memories were falsely exaggerated - this is a great film.9/10PS. My ex-girlfriend did not enjoy the film.

This is a well written and interesting book. It will be required and important reading for anyone wanting to keep up to speed with the Ivory-billed woodpecker story thus far.Jackson has many hours of distinguished service under his belt, searching for, and researching these fascinating birds and woodpeckers in general, so you can be sure that his thoughts and findings are well worth consulting.In many ways I have as much, if not more, respect, admiration and affection for Jackson as a long-standing tracker of ivory-bills as their declared finders (although Gallagher's book is an undoubtedly good read). Over several decades of pursuit, Jackson may not have "found" them officially but he can relate a gripping story of tantalisingly close encounters. His stalwart devotion thus counts for just as much in the long term.Inevitably, the story of the Ivory-bills' eradication is a crushingly sad tale of mindless greed, waste and stupidity. But especially dismal is the realisation that if they should still survive, the 'Lord God Bird' of rakish hue, exuberant demeanor and majestic trumpeting will certainly have long departed the scene. The survivors now will be the ones who keep their damn heads down, quell any calls or drummings, and hide. The Lord God got Himself shot. "Collected" into oblivion. So now our world is very very much the poorer and less exciting due the trigger-happy depredations of 'sportsmen' and egg thieves.Are there others, I wonder, who find themselves similarly mired in long-term grieving for the massive loss of sheer wonderfulness we and our ancestors are responsible for inflicting on the world? Was the trade-in of wild woodlands with massive trees, wolves, pumas, and countless fungi, lichens, insect varieties for a few board-yards of timber - really worth it? Must wild forests always be reduced to standing inventories of chip-board, parquet flooring and toilet paper?If Ivory Bills do still persist, and Jackson is amongst the foremost of those who hope they do, their indictment of modern humanity's profligacy must be an awesome thing to behold.

In my top five films of all time.Having read the negative reviews it seems they fall into two categories "difficulty in understanding a plot", and "unlikeable characters". Indeed none of the characters are your typical hollywood heros, but that's because this isn't a typical hollywood film. The characters have depth in multiple dimensions of human nature, and so they are not clearly definable as good or bad, as most people are used to in hollywood.As for plot, again it doesn't follow a straightforward hollywood plot line, the narrative, point and symbology is complex and intricate.The philosophical points being made are probably far too deep and confusing for the average person of our idiocracy. Concepts such as shared consciousness, the notion of self, life after death, self direction, free will, etc.

This film must be unique in just about every way, nearest comparison I can think of is, a bit like Alice going down the rabbit hole. Very imaginitive movie, cannot begin to explain it, but it has John Cusack and Cameron Diaz and, obviously, John Malkovich and is brilliantly directed by Spike Jonze.

Bizzare, Mental, Crazy, FunnyNot sure how on earth someone came up with this, fair play to Malco for doing this too! Must watch at least once.