Plot: What’s it about?
When you really thing about it, “Being John Malkovich” could really have been called anything and it could have featured any actor. Maybe it’s director Spike Jonzes’ weird sense of style that made him choose John Malkovich to focus on. Certainly, it’s one of Malkovich’s better roles in recent years, but don’t overlook the always great John Cusak and Cameron Diaz manages to turn in a pretty decent performance as well. It’s almost so utterly insane to describe the plot that if you were to do it (which I am) someone might think you’ve had “one too many”.
Puppeteer, Craig Schwartz (John Cusak) is out of work. Let’s face it, there isn’t much call for a good puppeteer these days. The only popular ones are sellouts and the rest of the world will have to be content to watch Criag’s plays on the New York street corners. An almost unrecognizable Cemeron Diaz plays his wife, who urges him to get a “real job” until his pupeteering career really takes off. Now these aren’t the most normal peopole to begin with. The inside of their apartment looks like a zoo, with monkeys, rabbits, cats and dogs running amok. It’s not until Craig takes a job as a filing clerk that he discovers something that will change him forever! While hunched over at his job (not only to file, but the buildig he works in is located on the 7 1/2 floor and is hence, half the size of a normal floor) Craig discovers a door that has been sealed shut. With a little work he manages to pry the door open, crawls inside and is sucked into the head of actor John Malkovich! Yes, you read that right. Upon recognition of this, he tells his office partner (who he has a crush on) and they do what anyone else would do…start a business that charges $200 for 15 minutes inside the great John Malkovich’s head!
This, though, is half the story. The sexual attraction between Maxine (Catherine Keener) and Lotte (Diaz) is evident, though only when Lotte is inside Malkovich’s head. Eventually it’s Craig who discovers a way to physically control Malkovich, being the literal pupeteer in as many senses of the word. Malkovich (now controlled by Craig) decides to give up acting and use his already famous name to launch a puppeteer career. Of course this is coming from John Malkovich, so the world sits up and takes notice. All the while, Craig now has what he has always wanted: His love interest, Maxine and a successful career as a puppeteer. Everything is going fine, in it’s own dimented way, until Craig’s old boss discovers that he has taken control of Malkovich. You see, Malkovich is the chosen “vessel” for a group of people that have discovered how to live forever by jumping from new vessel to vessel each generation. I won’t give away the ending, and I’m not sure I could even if I tried, but rest assured that Being John Malkovich is one of the strangest, yet enjoyabe movies that you’ll ever watch.
Video: How does it look?
A 16:9 transfer from the folks at USA Video (formerly Polygram). The 1.85:1 image looks very good. I’m sure it could look better, but this was a relatively low-budget movie and probably the best equipment wasn’t used for cameras. There are some specs of artifacting and at some times the colors seem a bit oversaturated. This could be the fault of the transfer, but I think it’s Jonzes’ way of shooting that is responsible. Overall, it looks very good.
Audio: How does it sound?
One of the more important parts in Being John Malkovich is meaing that you’re really supposed to feel like you’re inside him. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack makes this possible when someone enters him. We hear Malkovich talk and it has “muffeled” sound that radiates from all five channels. It’s really quite a neat experience! The rest of the movie is baiscally dialogue driven with a few surround effects here and there. Not a bad soundtrack, could have been a lot worse.
Supplements: What are the extras?
USA has loaded this disc up with a lot of extras. In addition to the production notes, trailer and cast bios we are treated to a number of featurettes and documentaries. First off we have the “Orientation to the 7 1/2 floor” video that was shown to Craig on his first day of work. It explains why there was a floor between 7 and 8 and is very interesting. Also shown is the documentary of how John Malkovich rose to stardom as a puppeteer. Also included is a photo gallery with pictures taken from Spike Jonze as well as an interview with Jonze as well. A feature length commentary would have been the icing on the cake, but no such luck. Still, for your money, this one to own!
