Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

elisa_jenkins-65819 Where to start? The coolest conceptual story to come around in decades. Kaufman is a sheer genius, tying in philosophical quandaries with dark caustic humor and fanatical elements like no other. Spike Jonze brings this script to life, formulating a perfect storm of imagery and powerful performances. It speaks to everyone, as you will identify with at least one of these tortured characters. Casting Cameron and Cusack as these frumpy fops is brilliant as well, and they both give the best performances of their careers, playing against type in a magnificent display of grotesque beauty. And who would have thought the ending could be so poignant, tragic, and satisfying at the same time. What a damn roller coaster ride of imagination. Also, nice nod to surrealist Alfred Jarry, with the "half a floor" joke (he famously made his apartment like this for some baffling reason. LOVE THIS FILM.

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.

zkonedog As a fan of mind-bending films like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Memento", I was recommended this one on Netflix and decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, after being intrigued by the trailer, I found that this movie is not all all what is advertised.For a basic plot summary, "Being John Malkovich" sees an eccentric puppeteer (Jon Cusack) finding a portal that leads into the mind of actor John Malkovich (John Malkovich). Chaos then ensues when the experience is turned into a profit-making venture.Put simple, this is an artsy, "concept" film if ever one was created. Many themes in the film are interesting and have potential to really intrigue, but all are eschewed in favor of oblique artistic expression. Basically, it is impossible to ever "figure out" this film. The characters are outlandish, the plot is all over the place, and the themes are far too frequent and passing to piece together coherently.I liken the experience to watching Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining". The visuals are nice and the content seems thought-provoking, but you'll go stark raving mad if you actually try to figure everything out. For director Spike Jonze, the overall artistic expression far outweighs a coherent narrative.Thus, if you are a fan of out-of-the-box, visually striking film-making, this will be your "Citizen Kane". If, however, like me, you prefer some sense and stability, you will be disappointed (especially with the way it is advertised).

eryui The main themes of the film, puppets and life similitude, live the life of someone else, entering his brain is definitely interesting and easily creates a number of ideas brought to exasperation and paradoxical as the movie showed us, including love and sex. The seventh floor and a half, may be cute (not really meaning) as well as the film that subtly shows us that some artists are immediately rewarded for the merit of being already famous.That said, the rest of the movie and ideas, however, are too forced and uninteresting and especially not thrilling and really funny or hilarious as they could have been by not exaggerating in its contours and adding less absurdity and instead more comic comedy situations. Some moments make you smile (not laugh) as the loop by Malkovich in his mind and the situation of the actor bewildered itself, virtually almost involuntarily raped while, some others, are not really necessary or meaningful.Personally, I'm used to engaging and genial plots as those seen in some of Terry Gilliam's movies. Malkovich is talented as always, but as someone else commented, it is not enough just a brilliant idea to make of a unique film a masterpiece.I found some main ideas as absurd even brilliant, but the film, in the long run, rather boring and overrated.6/10