D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die…
Being John Malkovich, 1999.
Directed by Spike Jonze.
Starring John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener and John Malkovich.
Being John Malkovich is a black comedy-fantasy from the mind of Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze. The film received 3 Oscar nominations that included Best Supporting Actress for Catherine Keener, as well as Best Original Screenplay for Kaufman and Best Director for Jonze.
The film follows Craig (Cusack), an unemployed puppeteer who lives with his pet obsessed wife Lotte (Diaz). When Craig is given a job as a clerk on floor 7 ½ of a building in New York the film begins to get really weird. The low ceilings do not allow for a normal person to stand up, but that’s not the weirdest thing. Behind a cabinet in one room Craig comes across a hole, which he crawls through and finds himself in the mind of actor John Malkovich.
Craig is able to see and feel whatever Malkovich is doing at the time for fifteen minutes before he is ejected and lands on the side of the New Jersey Turnpike. When Craig reveals the portal to his co-worker Maxine (Keener) the pair of them decide to rent its use to other people and make some money. Craig, himself being a puppeteer, begins to find ways of controlling Malkovich and John begins to get paranoid. When John Malkovich enters his own portal he ends up in a world where everyone looks like him and the only words he can utter are ‘Malkovich’.
Being John Malkovich is a film you must see before you die because the story continues with the same madness and randomness that it began with and is well and truly one of the strangest films I have ever seen. Words cannot begin to explain how unbelievably mental this film is and its enjoyment can only be enhanced with alcohol or drugs.
D.J. Haza
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Originally published January 18, 2012. Updated April 10, 2018.
