Susan Granger’s review of “BEING JOHN MALKOVICH” (USA Films)
If there’s an award for the boldest, most unconventional and wildly inventive movie of the year, it has to go to “Being John Malkovich,” in which screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze blend surrealism with science-fiction and self-parody. John Cusack stars as an out-of-work puppeteer who takes a job as a filing clerk in a New York office building on the 7 1/2 floor, where the rents are low because the ceilings are half the normal height. It’s a great visual gag as workers hunch over, scuttling down the hall. Stuck in an unhappy marriage to an almost unrecognizable Cameron Diaz with dark, frizzy hair, he becomes infatuated with a co-worker, Catherine Keener, who couldn’t be less interested. At least until he discovers a small door behind a filing cabinet that leads to a tunnel which, inexplicably, sucks him into the brain of actor John Malkovich. Cusack can see through the actor’s eyes and share whatever he’s is feeling – for 15 minutes – until he’s dumped into a ditch on the New Jersey Turnpike. When he shares his discovery with Keener, she immediately sees the potential in selling entrance – $200 per person – to this portal so that others can partake in the sensory and emotional experiences of John Malkovich. They become partners in this commercial venture – until, inevitably, the enigmatic Malkovich discovers how they’ve opened this “metaphysical can of worms.” Plus, there’s a deliriously mad subplot of gender/blender sexual seduction, absurdist supporting gems from Orson Bean and Mary Kay Place, plus witty cameos by Charlie Sheen, Sean Penn, and Brad Pitt. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Being John Malkovich” is a clever, outrageous 10. It’s a film of astonishing and beguiling originality.
