An imaginative masterpiece with the most bizarre, yet profoundly intelligent, feeling ...

Rating: 10/10 (19 September 2011)

"Being John Malkovich", what a title! I really didn't know what to expect exactly  an introspective film, some kind of intellectual drama essentially trying to capture the existential issues of the titular actor's tormented mind, I didn't think of a fantasy anyway, and certainly didn't anticipate this piece of cinematic creativity and visual awesomeness my mind would endure for less than two hours. "Being John Malkovich" is not only one of the most creative movies of the last 20 years, but certainly one of the cleverest and most mind-bending and twisted scripts ever concocted from a newcomer, his name is Charlie Kauffman, and this is definitely one of these reviews that must start by a thunder of verbal applauds for the writing.
Though the movie is not the most quotable of all, like "Network" or "Chinatown", it features more similarities with scripts à la "Rashomon" or "The Usual Suspects", these intricate puzzles where you have to assemble each piece until the end, but in the case of "Being John Malkovich", it's less about a resolution or a revelation than how far a movie can exploit an inventive concept, how long it can hook the audiences' minds with an ingenious plot device. This is why the script is actually closer to movies like "Back to the Future" and "Groundhog Day". And when the plot consists on having people being in someone else's body, let alone John Malkovich, well, besides the thrills, besides the laughs, the movie should feature a necessary level of depth. Indeed, when you have such a goldmine for plot twists, you must handle them carefully and on that level, Charlie Kauffman did it with a remarkable craftsmanship. And even if you expect to be surprised, it's nothing compared to the exhilarating cinematic experience of the first viewing.
The symbolism that structures the whole narrative is highlighted during the opening credits where you discover a marvelous puppet's number directed by Greg Schwartz, John Cusack whose appearance immediately labels him in the antihero 'slash' loser category. Greg is so devoured by his own passion that he's totally neglecting his couple. And despite the apparent love between Greg and his wife Lotte, there's the strong feeling that both belong to two different worlds, he works in the basement, taking care of his puppets with the delicacy of a God-like figure caring about his creations, while Lotte, live with her animals on the top, creating a touching mini-zoo in the house. The only similarity between the two is their looks, by the way, only after the first half hour, I realized it was Cameron Diaz below that huge afro. Even though she's not the most feminine cinematic character, she genuinely wants children, but Greg seems reluctant because of his unemployment, which Lotte understands  the film doesn't waste its time with these two wannabe-anything and quickly gets to the point, when Greg replies to a job offer.
Greg's skillful hands get him the job in a peculiar and mysterious 'filling' company set, in the 7th and half floor, probably the lowest roof from any work place. Go figure why Kauffman decided to insert an element that wouldn't have changed much the plot. I guess this is the difference between talented and great directors, the low roof element created a bit of visual jokes to distract us before the third element of the future love triangle makes her entrance, Catherine Keener as Maxine, Greg's ambitious, sexy co-worker, she talks straightforwardly and doesn't embarrass herself with social hypocrisy. For a man who lives with a girl like Lotte, now I understand why Cameron Diaz had to look anything but sexy, he naturally falls in love with the scene-stealing Maxine, but she's not interested. Now, all the pieces are ready and the game can start when Greg accidentally discovers a strange tunnel that leads to John Malkovich's body. Why Malkovich? How does it work? Why fifteen minutes in his body? That's the charm, did you really want to know why the Groundhog Day was repeating itself?
I was so delighted by the premise I couldn't wait to see where this would get, until the intelligence's highlight of the film was reached when Lotte was John Malkovich and when what followed set a whole new psychoanalytical mood. The film is not about being John Malkovich, but becoming another person. Greg discovers the ultimate puppetry, as a man who brings life to objects, now he can insufflate life to a human being, dictating his gestures, his thoughts, his sexual impulses, being God in a pervert sort of way. Is his fantasy the sublime allegory of puppetry's beauty or is puppetry the incarnation of a sordid and lusty desire? Maxine doesn't need the experience because she's naturally a controlling woman, and her desire is to control John Malkovich while he's controlled by either Greg or Lotte. And for Lotte, it's the epiphany, the flash of realization that she's not trapped in John Malkovich, but in her own body, discovering finally the sensation of being a man. Lotte loves animals, she loves life, it's all about the sensation of living again, while Greg uses people as objects to satisfy his personal impulses. Maxine is simply torn between these two approaches, which might explain why she appealed to both Greg and Lotte.
The movie reveals our deepest fantasies or sexual torments, the desire to be the same person in another body, sometimes from a different sex, to have one person we love in another body  in both cases it's about the distinction between the mind and the body as a source of discomfort or satisfaction, and John Malkovich's body is the humble setting of a mind-blowing experimentation highlighting our conditions as clumsy puppets directed by our consciences whose strings are pulled by our subconscious or by other persons or by sex, by God, you name them. A anyway, the result is an existential masterpiece questioning our own control on our lives!
Malkovich!