Oh to be someone else (for 15 minutes)

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2019)

Director Jonze and writer Kaufman made only 2 films together, but they were 2 of the best films ever - innovative, funny, challenging, weird, and surprisingly engaging. This is one of them. Now they are both auteurs (as is Michel Gondry, who directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) - but Kaufman is not a great director and Jonze is a mediocre writer. Come on guys, help each other out. I wish they would work together again - I am sure a lot of people do.
This is kooky and surreal, with a strong scifi element, but what it is really about is people's neurotic, unrealized lusts and dreams. Kaufman touches on people's desires to be someone else, to love in a ways that are impossible, and to live forever.
Keener and Malkovich are both brilliant, and so is Orson Bean in a supporting role. Sean Penn pops up in a cameo. I wonder if he was approached to do this - how interesting would that have been, with him in the title role?