Being John Malkovich

1999 "Ever wanted to be someone else? Now you can."
7.7| 1h53m| R| en| More Info
Released: 29 October 1999 Released
Producted By: Gramercy Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

One day at work, unsuccessful puppeteer Craig finds a portal into the head of actor John Malkovich. The portal soon becomes a passion for anybody who enters its mad and controlling world of overtaking another human body.

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Reviews

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.
BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.
Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Paul J. Nemecek This has been a great year for alternate realities at the movies. Films like The Matrix, Sixth Sense, Blair Witch Project, Thirteenth Floor, and Run, Lola, Run have all, in different ways, played with the line that separates past from present, reality from simulation, and truth from fiction. Being John Malkovich can be added to this list of innovative films that a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly described as the first films of the 21st century.There is little in this film that is formula. John Cusack plays a gifted puppeteer who aspires to be one of the world's great puppeteers. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of job openings for puppeteers so he is reduced to street theater where he is clearly underappreciated. An almost unrecognizable Cameron Diaz plays Cusack's wife, a pet lover who is just a little quirky. When Cusack decides to take a job as a file clerk on floor 7.5 of an office building, life becomes even weirder. Cusack discovers an opening behind a file cabinet, a little door that leads into a tunnel. Like the characters in C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, (or Alice Through the Looking Glass), Cusack jumps in and finds himself in an alternative universe. Instead of Narnia or Wonderland, Cusack finds himself on a 15-minute ride inside actor John Malkovich (played quite capably by . . . John Malkovich).Cusack joins forces with a co-worker to create a business. For $200 people can spend 15 minutes inside of John Malkovich's head, seeing the world through his eyes. Since this is even better than Real World or a WebCam show, people come in droves. Eventually, Malkovich himself discovers what's going on and jumps the line to go inside of his own mind. This leads to what has to be one of the more unique scenes in the history of film. The story takes on an even more interesting twist when Cusack finds a unique way to fulfill his lifelong dream of being the world's greatest puppeteer.This is one weird film--and I've left out some of the weird. This is also one of the most creative films I have seen, and the film raises interesting questions about consciousness, identity, love and meaning. There are great performances here by Cusack, Diaz, Malkovich, and Catherine Keener (Cusack's co-worker and eventual love interest). The real star of the show, however, is the story itself. First-time screenwriter Charlie Kaufman has crafted an interesting and innovative story. First-time director Spike Jonze handles the material extremely well. This is clearly not a film for all tastes, and the language and sexual scenes may well offend. This is, however, something that is very rare, in Hollywood--innovative, creative, and thought provoking. Watch for this film during the Oscar nominations. If this doesn't get nominated for screenplay--at least--I will hang up my trophy.
Alan Smithee Esq. This movie is magnificent. It's tough to describe because it's one of the most off the wall bat-s!@t crazy plots ever conceived. Imaginative and inventive film making at it's best. A must see to believe that it was actually made. You never know where this movie is headed which makes it super enjoyable.
quinimdb Since every human being is constantly tethered to their bodies and their perception of the world through that body, the curiosity of what life is like from another person's perspective is intrinsic to human nature. So what if the person whose body you could inhabit was critically acclaimed actor John Malkovich? And what if the portal to his mind was in an office with a low ceiling because it was in between two floors of a skyscraper? "Being John Malkovich" answers both of these questions and many more with a surprising amount of insight and depth.Craig Schwartz is a struggling puppeteer performing on the streets of New York to an audience who doesn't want him. He has a wife, Lotte, but they are clearly somewhat distant from each other, and she is often at work or trying to convince him to get a job. Finally, he obliges when money runs low, and he ends up filing cabinets at the odd floor 7 1/2. It's telling that his boss thinks that he has a speech impediment because his assistant has trouble hearing and often misinterprets his words: the only window into how he is perceived by others is filtered through the imperfect perceptions of those around him. In this office he sees Maxine Lund and slowly becomes desperate for her, even acting out a romantic encounter with her with his puppets while proclaiming it's the chance to feel what someone else feels that draws him to puppeteering. Soon after he stumbles upon a window into a man's brain, and while John Malkovich may have seemed like a random choice by screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, I don't think it's an accident that the man they begin to live through is an actor himself, constantly trying to immerse himself in many different roles and different lives. As Craig and Lotte soon find out, completely changing their role and appearance in life helps them to further discover who they are and what they want. By discovering that her true self is not the gender or appearance or age that their assigned, Lotte realizes she feels more comfortable as a man. Of course, they do begin to exploit this sudden discovery as most human beings would do. Maxine does it for control, and Craig does it for Maxine's adoration, but it is only a matter of time until Malkovich himself finds this portal.Malkovich inevitably entering this portal himself could've been handled in a plethora of ways, but how it is handled is brilliant, funny, thought provoking, and it deepens the themes of the film. It shows how our mind ultimately compares everyone around us to ourselves because it is all that we have to compare to, and it also shows how many different versions of oneself exist within one's own mind, each revealing themselves at different times. And this isn't even the last big surprise of the movie. The climax exists entirely in Malkovich's subconscious. Although even through all of the film's heady ideas and absurdism it remains a very fundamentally human film. As Craig gets a hold of controlling Malkovich, they toy with the idea that one's position in life and preexisting image often dictates their success, but the surprisingly tragic ending reveals that what is at the core of who Craig is, regardless of the body he inhabits, is who he desires, and this is ultimately what dictates his actions, and it isn't hard to see that this desire is what dictates every other character as well, especially when the person one desires is just out of reach.
FilmBuff1994 Being John Malkovich is a terrific movie with a very well developed storyline and a really talented cast. There is nothing else like it, as is anything from Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze, two individual film makers who are not one bit afraid to take risks, which they did here to a significant degree. It certainly does not sound good on paper, two co-workers discover a portal to the mind of John Malkovich in their office building, but everything in it really works, the story will warp your mind in a way that you will enjoy. The only problem I had was that they glossed over Dr. Lester, who is beautifully portrayed by Orson Bean, his story, a very complicated one, could have been developed much more. The film has a surprisingly sweet and inspiring message, to be true to yourself, the person you want to be, to pursue your dreams and not to hold back on what you would like to achieve, you may find it strange how a story such as that could have such a powerful methapor to it, you will have to see for yourself. The cast is outstanding and are well able to handle the film's weirdness, John Cusack and Cameron Diaz deliver one of the best performances of their careers as two damaged soles, with an obsession with Catherine Keener, a mean, manipulative, deceiving woman you can not help but love. However, Malkovich is without a doubt the star of the show, portraying a very exaggerated version of himself, I would assume, being forced to change personalities and identities throughout for certain reasons, doing it all to full effect. Weird, whimsical and somewhat inspiring, Being John Malkovich is a movie that will leave you feeling a range of different emotions, all which you will enjoy, a must watch comedy drama. When a puppeteer is forced to take a job in an office building, he soon discovers a portal that takes him in to the mind of actor John Malkovich. Best Performance: John Malkovich