New Surrealist Classic

Rating: 10/10 (6 December 2002)

Minor Spoilers ahead:
Being John Malkovich was one of the best movies released during the past few years. It was surprising that a production of this sort actually made it to the big screen. Hollywood was actually capable of producing a great artistic film, without considering the financial outcomes.
This film was not publicized, as expected, since the producers knew from the outset that this film was not going to be a great financial success. The motivation to create this film was to show that there were still some creative minds in Hollywood and that they were not afraid to challenge the old stereotype of the empty Hollywood classic. The style used in this film ties it to its surrealist origins. Through comedy, Being John Malkovich addresses many issues. The first issue dealt with in this film relates to the misfortune of the puppeteer who is trying to show his art and its rejected by a cruel society. The rejection of what in the eyes of Cusack is real art, is revisited throughout the film. Final redemption is brought when Cusack uses Malkovich's body to reach his dream, to be a world-renown puppeteer. This first issue addressed by the film brings to mind some of the works of early French surrealists such as Rene Clair, Jean Renoir and Jean Virgo.
The second issue raised in this film relates to sexual desires; in a more Dali-Bunuel style, this film deals with all the sub conscious sexual desires experienced by the characters. The characters in Being John Malkovich get involved in a love triangle. Cusack and Diaz are in love with Keener. Meanwhile, Keener is not sure whom she loves. The last issue dealt with in this film is the desire for common people to be someone else, to be someone that is really important to society as a whole, to be a celebrity.

Being John Malkovich was one of the best recent works out of Hollywood. This film is a demonstration of the ability of Hollywood to create a good and profound film. As Orson Welles did it in the 1940's, Spike Jonze created a film that showed the film industry that innovative, good films are the pure expression of the seventh art