Being John Malkovich

Rating: 5/10 (1 March 2017)

I wanted to be a philosophy major in college, but I also wanted to be gainfully employed so I abandoned that wish. Philosophy has remained a way of which I spend my time. A film, philosophical in its premise, will always be one that I gravitate towards. Being John Malkovich, the 1999 film by Spike Jonze is a film purely philosophical in its plot and approach. The film stars John Cusack as a man who makes a living as a puppeteer, desperate to control an aspect of his otherwise meaningless existence. When he finds a portal which allows people to enter into the head of actor John Malkovich, he attempts to make a profit with his business affiliate played by Catherine Keener. When both his business affiliate and wife played by Cameron Diaz fall in love with the actor, he has lost even more control of his life and may go to extreme measures to gain control.
Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) is a struggling puppeteer who builds his own puppets and is desperate to make a living doing the work he is impassioned with, lives a life that is filled with mundane activities. When his wife and animal lover Lottie, who herself owns a pet store, encourages him to finally get a job, Craig finds himself at a company called LesterCorp, located on the seventh and a half floor with ceilings so low one can't fully extend their body to an upright position to work as a file clerk. Something seems off about this building and its personnel immediately, before Craig can even learn the half of it (I'm punny). While attempting to settle into his new work environment one day, Craig stumbles upon a small door in his office that leads him into the head of actor John Malkovich. Craig and his co-worker Maxine Lund (Catherine Keener) decide to sell 15-minute increments of time in John Malkovich's head as an experience to the public. At first, the revelation makes Craig feel as though he has some control and purpose over his life and the lives of others. Soon, however, his co-worker and crush Maxine begins to fall in love with the actor, then, Craig's wife falls in love with him as well after her 15-minute ride in the mind of John Malkovich. His newfound control and purpose begin to spiral out of control leaving Craig desperate to find a way to gain it back, despite what that means to anyone involved.
The idea of self is heavily explored throughout Being John Malkovich. Malkovich's "self" is intruded upon and under constant threat, which is a cardinal worry of many social philosophers. What does free will enter and how can one maintain their grasp on their free will when it is constantly under siege from so many intruders around us. Human isolation is also clearly illustrated throughout Being John Malkovich. Each of Craig's puppets is separated by a wall or some other object, and each of the people we meet in Craig's life doesn't spend too much time surrounded by others. Even the communal experience of gaining entry to John Malkovich's head further isolates people once their time as him ends. Each person that comes out of John Malkovich leaves appreciating his life more and their life less further calling to question issues of self. Perhaps the most overarching issue examined in Jonze's film is the question of the existence of a soul. What is beyond life and self and breaches the metaphysics, is anything. Each person seems more apt to explore the being of John Malkovich than actually explore their own identities. Perhaps there is nothing to the idea of soul to the filmmaker; either way, the existence of soul, the examination of self, and human isolation are extreme areas of interest to the plot and background of Being John Malkovich.