Rationalization is self-inflicted brain-damage

Rating: 9/10 (21 March 2004)

I thought Being John Malkovich was amusing, but I never want to see it again; and I hated Adaptation with an Elaine-vs-The English Patient fervor! But this Kaufman outing is completely different--no stale swipes at Hollywood genres, no kvetching about the problems writers face when they have to "compromise", just a fascinating plunge into the related problems of memory and character-as-destiny...
It's very much in the "Punch-Drunk-In-Translation" vein, with the added benefit that here the social environment doesn't even have to be "surrealized", because we know from the start that most of these events are taking place inside a person's brain... The film does a wonderful job of conveying a real sense of the "heteroglossia" that maturing writers strive for--memories of loved ones become reified chunks of otherness within the mind, paving the way for an infinite array of possible recombinations, the best of which have the substantiality of actual relationships! That's creativity folks!
Despite the tagline, this really isn't another kick at the innocence vs. experience can... My favourite scene features Carrey & Winslet (who are both excellent) wandering through an empty, darkened building on the beach, testing each other... You get a brilliant dramatization here of the only real power that we possess: the ability to look at ourselves... Who's doing the looking? Who's under the microscope? Who knows? But you know you can do it, and that's all that matters, right? The ability to accept. It's the only possible basis for human equality, and it's good enough for me... Rationalization is self-inflicted brain-damage... I'm telling you, this movie is (quietly) thrilling... Especially if you know and love Dieterle's Portrait of Jennie!
Dave