Consciousness is a terrible curse

Rating: Null/10 (18 June 2000)

* * * (3 out of 5)

Being John Malkovich

Directed by; Spike Jonze, 2000

Absurd, frenetic and initially interesting mix of Barton Fink and Brazil, but lacking the humorous depth of the Coen brothers and the visual poetry of Terry Gilliam.
Being John Malkovich talks about identity, gender, soul and creativity, and is content to conclude that consciousness is a curse under which we all try to exist.
An inventive idea and good choice of "host", but a self-labelled intellectual comedy must never be this overlong and pretentious.
After the first few portal trips, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman goes on automatic pilot, the built up love triangle never heats up, Cameron Diaz starts to struggle in her bombed-out wig and our intriguing and Kafka-like main character of Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) seems somewhat lost.
Not without moments though. A chase through Malkovich's subconscious and a flashback as seen through the eyes of a tame chimpanzee are major highlights. Much hyped Catherine Keener is too distant in her role as the office vamp - she's unassuming without any subtlety, while Malkovich himself seems inspired and very thrilled to be in on the joke. Ironically one of his finest and most reflective performances to date.

Andy Warhol once said that everybody gets fifteen minutes of fame, and maybe these words spawned it all. Maybe not. Filmmaker Spike Jonze (who starred in Three Kings) is heavy on artsy swagger and good at it too, but Being John Malkovich would have been an instant classic as a taut Twilight Zone episode instead.