A Malkovich mind warp

Rating: 8/10 (9 September 2012)

Cusack plays a creatively frustrated puppeteer who must take a desk job to make ends meet and subsequently discovers a secret portal into the mind's-eye of John Malkovich between two floors in the building in which he works. Though married, he becomes enamoured by the sultry co-worker (Keener) and, eager to impress her, uses the secret portal as his hook prompting the entrepreneurial vixen to devise a plan to sell experiences (ranging from the mundane - like eating breakfast - to more cultural immersions like POV of the beast with two backs) through the portal to rake a profit. Matters become complicated when both Cusack and Keener compete for the power over Malkovich's sub-consciousness, causing jealousy to emerge.
It's the sort of movie you'll either appreciate or dismiss as a self-indulgent abstraction and while the concept is occasionally difficult to absorb, the plot is much easier to digest. The puppetry featured in this movie is exceptional; even if you don't possess an interest in the art, the dexterity with which the puppeteer (Phillip Huber) makes his marionette 'performers' interact is magical.
Keener is a seductive and ultimately brash characterisation and should fog up your face furniture (particularly one scene with Malkovich), while Cusack plays his ubiquitous alter-ego, the intellectual man-child, consumed by neuroticism, urban paranoia, struggling to define himself amongst the masses; another watchable, if somewhat familiar portrayal. Malkovich makes a typically arrogant namesake, but as always, his enigmatic, eccentric appeal makes for a quirky, offbeat but entertaining picture unlikely to reach the masses, but a boldly interesting subject just the same for those who'd dare.