unclassifiable

Rating: Null/10 (31 March 2003)

I'd love to be able to pigeonhole this film, but I can't. It really is that good. The basic premise - a portal in a filing room on the 7 and a half floor of an office building leads into John Malkovich's head - is crazy, surreal, and weird. Ok - this could never happen. But, like Craig the puppeteer and Lottie his curly headed wife (Cameron Diaz!), we slowly come to believe in it. Well, kind of. Key to this is the participation of Malkovich himself, who at least shows he sees himself with some humour. Catty Maxine proves a draw for the man and the woman visiting the portal, which gives rise to all kinds of green-eyed situations (and a knock-out and extremely moving ending). To get from A to B is hilarious, uneasy, and unlike anything else you're like to see. Work of genius.