esrosedotblog

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH(1999)

Today's movie; NYTimes1000Best. Boy did I hate this movie. It is the first film with John Cusack that I have not loved. I did not go see it in its time as I had a feeling. I was right. And, I have to sign a pact with myself that any film that has Catherine Keener in it (Maxine) is going to be relentlessly nasty. It is her strong and only suit.

As one who complains about the vapidity of today's film selection, I suppose it is pissing on the good fairy to complain so strongly about a work that someone has obviously thought about and that is relentlessly original. But, what thoughts, how bizarre! Actually, it occurred to me that the writer--the esteemed Kaufman--had a deck of cards or a random number generator in front of him and selected the oddest combination of circumstances to create this piece. The little office, the eccentric people, the hole in Malkovich' head and the rest. The pieces are there but when they come together they are pessimistic, nihilistic, and just plain cockeyed. It is nasty. By the time Cusack locks the wife up with the monkey (yes) I wanted out.

But, my contract is to see them all (the 1000) and now I can chalk this one up as a 1 out a Netflix5 and no more Charlie Kaufman or Spike Jonze. There is none for Jonze--only two announced projects; one of them with Kaufman. Kaufman has won an Oscar for ADAPTATION and had another one that I studiously avoided as well. My only way of retribution is to show the chimp's picture and let the rest of them go on to their next project if any.