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Being John Malkovich
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Product Description
Product description
While too many movies suffer the fate of creative bankruptcy, Being John Malkovich is a refreshing study in contrast, so bracingly original that you'll want to send director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman a thank-you note for restor
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While too many movies suffer the fate of creative bankruptcy,Being John Malkovich is a refreshing study in contrast, so bracingly original that you'll want to send director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman a thank-you note for restoring your faith in the enchantment of film. Even if it ultimately serves little purpose beyond the thrill of comedic invention, this demented romance is gloriously entertaining, spilling over with ideas that tickle the brain and even touch the heart. That's to be expected in a movie that dares to ponder the existential dilemma of a forlorn puppeteer (John Cusack) who discovers a metaphysical portal into the brain of actor John Malkovich.
The puppeteer's working as a file clerk on the seventh-and-a-half floor of a Manhattan office building; this idea alone might serve as the comedic basis for an entire film, but Jonze and Kaufman are just getting started. Add a devious coworker (Catherine Keener), Cusack's dowdy wife (a barely recognizable Cameron Diaz), and a business scheme to capitalize on the thrill of being John Malkovich, and you've got a movie that just gets crazier as it plays by its own outrageous rules. Malkovich himself is the film's pièce de résistance, riffing on his own persona with obvious delight and--when he enters his own brain via the portal--appearing with multiple versions of himself in a tour-de-force use of digital trickery. Does it add up to much? Not really. But for 112 liberating minutes, Being John Malkovich is a wild place to visit. --Jeff Shannon
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.85:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : R (Restricted)
- Product Dimensions : 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches; 4 Ounces
- Director : Spike Jonze
- Media Format : Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
- Run time : 1 hour and 52 minutes
- Release date : May 2, 2000
- Actors : John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich, Ned Bellamy
- Subtitles: : English, Spanish, French
- Language : English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
- Studio : Polygram USA Video
- ASIN : 6305807086
- Writers : Charlie Kaufman
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #127,299 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #1,516 in Fantasy DVDs
- #15,153 in Comedy (Movies & TV)
- Customer Reviews:
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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Really good comedy and fantasy movie!
In ending we see a new life born, unaware that it is controlled by hidden forces. Is this each and every one of our experiences? This is food for thought in BJM. The film never fully explains itself and that is why the film is so great. For if everything were explained and summed up then there would be no reason to re-watch the film again and agin, seeing it fresh each time it's explored down the road.
The inclusion of animals and higher primates in the film is symbolic. I suspect it alludes to our evolution, base animal nature and how we so often deny that we are in fact just another animal on this planet, albeit a creative one, apart but the same from all other creatures.
The 1/2 floor represents our subconscious, and also animal side. Much is explored and hashed out in the 1/2 floor of that building. things go in and things go out. Personalities and desires, thoughts, hopes, dreams. The characters want to go back to the portal that is in there. The portal to ones true self.
Comedy, a trait that most likely developed as a result of our higher brain functions, is explored as well. Comedy in this film is approached as absurdity. Existence is a bit absurd and this film takes it head on. Comedy probably developed as a buffer from the complex human brain running itself mad with endless thoughts about the nature of existence. These thoughts are explored and bubble up and out of the subconscious to the surface.
This film is a masterwork by the writer and director. It will be remembered long after the drivel of the day is long forgotten. This is one of the great films of our times.
Top reviews from other countries
Das klingt jetzt vielleicht mehr als ein bisschen wirr, aber die Story funktioniert tatsächlich. Being John Malkovich ist eine wunderbar schräge Komödie voll mit originellen Ideen und gut geschriebenen, herrlich schrulligen Figuren. Schon allein die Idee, John Malkovich sich selbst spielen zu lassen, der aber von einer anderen Person kontrolliert wird, ist grandios. Regie, Drehbuch und schauspielerische Leistungen sind allesamt auf Top-Niveau. Wäre das auch nur bei einem der Punkte nicht der Fall gewesen, hätte Being John Malkovich wahrscheinlich nicht funktioniert. Doch zum Glück tut er das. Weil diese Komödie so anders ist, wird sie sicherlich nicht jedem gefallen. Ich aber liebe diesen Film, ich sehe ihn mir immer wieder gerne an und kann ihn nur wärmstens empfehlen. Dafür gibt's auch volle fünf Sterne.
Jackson has many hours of distinguished service under his belt, searching for, and researching these fascinating birds and woodpeckers in general, so you can be sure that his thoughts and findings are well worth consulting.
In many ways I have as much, if not more, respect, admiration and affection for Jackson as a long-standing tracker of ivory-bills as their declared finders (although Gallagher's book is an undoubtedly good read). Over several decades of pursuit, Jackson may not have "found" them officially but he can relate a gripping story of tantalisingly close encounters. His stalwart devotion thus counts for just as much in the long term.
Inevitably, the story of the Ivory-bills' eradication is a crushingly sad tale of mindless greed, waste and stupidity. But especially dismal is the realisation that if they should still survive, the 'Lord God Bird' of rakish hue, exuberant demeanor and majestic trumpeting will certainly have long departed the scene. The survivors now will be the ones who keep their damn heads down, quell any calls or drummings, and hide. The Lord God got Himself shot. "Collected" into oblivion. So now our world is very very much the poorer and less exciting due the trigger-happy depredations of 'sportsmen' and egg thieves.
Are there others, I wonder, who find themselves similarly mired in long-term grieving for the massive loss of sheer wonderfulness we and our ancestors are responsible for inflicting on the world? Was the trade-in of wild woodlands with massive trees, wolves, pumas, and countless fungi, lichens, insect varieties for a few board-yards of timber - really worth it? Must wild forests always be reduced to standing inventories of chip-board, parquet flooring and toilet paper?
If Ivory Bills do still persist, and Jackson is amongst the foremost of those who hope they do, their indictment of modern humanity's profligacy must be an awesome thing to behold.
The film, without giving too much away for the people who haven't watched it, follows the life of a puppeteer Craig Schwartz (played by John Cusacks) who ends up getting a new job at the Lester Corporation on Floor 7½ where he discovers a hidden door that leads into the mind of John Malkovich. If you reading this, then yes the film is crazier than it sounds! I would strongly recommend this film to anyone. It is funny, weird, disturbing, slightly wrong in some areas and all in all a great watch.
It is brilliantly original with a slight hint of madness!!