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Reviewed by Colin Jacobson
USA Entertainment, widescreen 1.85:1/16x9, languages: English DD 5.1 [CC] & Dolby Surround, subtitles: Spanish, French, single side-dual layer, 32 chapters, rated R, 113 min., $24.98, street date 5/2/2000. Supplements:
Academy Awards: Nominated for Best Director, Best Supporting Actress-Catherine Keener, Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, 2000. Directed by Spike Zone. Starring John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, Orson Bean, Mary Kay Place, John Malkovich, Charlie Sheen. Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) is a struggling street puppeteer. In order to make some money, Craig takes a job as a filing clerk. One day he accidentally discovers a door…a portal into the brain of John Malkovich (played by John Malkovich)! For 15 minutes, he experiences the ultimate head trip -- HE is being John Malkovich! Then he's dumped onto the New Jersey turnpike! With his beautiful office mate Maxine (Catherine Keener) and his pet-obsessed wife (Cameron Diaz), they hatch a plan to let others into John's brain for just $200 a trip. See what all the critics are talking about.
Frankly, BJM is such a clever and inventive film that my comments about it will be shorter than usual. (Pause to wait for the applause to fade.) I'm not abbreviating my usual rambling notes because I have nothing to say about the movie; on the contrary, there's plenty I'd love to discuss about it. However, too much of the fun of BJM comes from it being a surprise. Granted, I'm sure I'll still enjoy the movie upon repeated viewings, but I would have been peeved had I known many of its delights in advance. As such, I'll leave most of this space blank other than to relate a general description. Tortured and commercially-unsuccessful puppeteer Craig (John Cusack) takes on a job as a file clerk and discovers an odd portal behind a cabinet. This doorway to another dimension actually leads the inhabitant inside the head of John Malkovich (John Malkovich) where for 15 minutes, that person can see the world through his eyes and feel his feelings. The film explores what happens from there and goes down quite a few paths I didn't anticipate. The movie features a lot more Malkovich than I'd expected; I thought he'd provide a cameo or two and that would be it, but he's honestly the lead actor. It's a shame he didn't get an Academy Award nod, because he does a fantastic job; despite the way things appear, he doesn't really just play himself and his part ends up as easily the most demanding of the film. The rest of the cast - including a sharp and sexy Catherine Keener as Craig's building-mate Maxine and an almost-unrecognizable Cameron Diaz as Craig's wife Lotte - also provide strong turns, and director Spike Jonze keeps the motor humming from start to finish. He's obviously seen quite a few Terry Gilliam films, but Jonze doesn't come across as an imitator; he appears inspired by Gilliam's attitude but not as an anonymous clone. It takes some talent to hold together such an audacious piece of work, and Jonze does so ably in his debut as a film director (Jonze made his name through music videos like the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" and Weezer's "Buddy Holly", otherwise known as the clip found on the Windows 95 CD.)
Being John Malkovich appears in its original theatrical aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this single-sided, dual-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. While the film looks generally good, it possesses enough flaws to knock it down to a "B". The main problem stems from the fact this is a very dark movie. Shadow detail appears pretty bad for the most part, because so much of the picture is cast in extremely low light; I can't recall every having had so much trouble discerning the action. I didn't see the film theatrically, so I can't tell how much of this was intentional, but while I suspect much of the darkness occurred on purpose, I honestly can't believe all of it was supposed to look this dim. For example, in one early scene, Craig has to read symbols on two different sheets of paper. One is barely legible, and the other is completely indecipherable. Since part of the joke depends on allowing the audience to view the symbols, I'd have to believe the image is darker than intended. Whether intentional or not, the darkness of the picture can be rather frustrating but it doesn't ruin the experience. Far from it; the rest of the movie looks good enough to let me almost forgive a lot of the excessively low light. Sharpness seems consistently fine, with images that seem crisp and well-defined. Unfortunately, some moiré effects occur as well; one lightshade in Craig and Lotte's apartment is especially prone to strobing. Some artifacts from the anamorphic downconversion on my 4X3 TV occurred as well. The print itself appears immaculate, as one would expect from such a new movie. Colors are very subdued in this film; the lack of light allows little other than grays and browns to appear. Nonetheless, the hues we see seem accurate and appropriately saturated. Black levels also look deep and rich. From what I can see, BJM looks good; the problem stems from the fact I couldn't see all that much.
The quality also seems excellent. Dialogue always appears natural and warm and is consistently intelligible. The music is very smooth and deep and displays good dynamic range, while effects and clear and realistic. All in all, the audio seems very satisfying and strong. BJM tosses in a few interesting supplemental features. Like the film itself, there are some rather unusual choices available. Included are some of the materials partially displayed in the film itself. We find "7 1/2 Floor Orientation" at about two minutes and 10 seconds and "American Arts & Culture Presents: John Horatio Malkovich, Dance of Despair and Disillusionment" which runs for four minutes and 15 seconds. As with the film itself, the less said about these, the better; to simply discuss them would be to reveal too much of the story. In any case, they're somewhat superfluous - we see virtually all they have to offer during the film itself - but make for a nice addition nonetheless. As I watched some of the other supplements, I got the distinct impression that folks such as myself - those of us who get off on the behind the scenes minutiae found in DVD extras - were being mocked, through the kinds of contents and their presentation, which tends to be overly-somber and portentous. Well, at least we're not the only ones at whom they're laughing. "An Intimate Portrait of the Art of Puppeteering" provides a look at Phil Huber, the guy who manipulated all of the puppets in BJM. This segment runs for about seven minutes and walks a very fine line between sincere tribute and barely-concealed lampooning. It's cool to learn a little more detail about the techniques, but I could have lived without the somewhat smarmy tone, though the latter isn't as nasty as it could have been. A more clear-cut case of mockery occurs during "An Intimate Portrait of the Art of Background Driving", a piece that goes for six minutes and 20 seconds. It focusses on that most obscure facet of extra acting, the background drivers, those people who have to drive by in the background of street scenes. We sit in the car of an unnamed driver who rambles about God knows what in a rather "Valley girl" manner. It's an odd piece, but strangely entertaining.
Also typically bizarre is "An Interview with Director Spike Jonze". This provides two and a half minutes of essentially nothing - an interviewer asks Spike questions as they drive around but Jonze essentially only stammers in response and eventually he pukes. I admit I found this strangely amusing, but I can't imagine it's something I'll want to watch again. A few other supplements round out the collection. "Spike's Photo Gallery" provides 30 images of the cast and crew; they're pretty decent and deserve a look. We also find the theatrical trailer and some excellent TV spots; best of the bunch is the one that treats the promo as if it were an ad for a cheesy service. Finally, fairly good biographies for the five main actors, Jonze, and screenwriter/executive producer Charlie Kaufman appear. It's certainly not a great collection of extras, but it's unusual. As is the movie they serve. Being John Malkovich isn't the best movie I've ever seen, but it's one of the most unique, and it's also tremendously compelling. The DVD's picture is somewhat weak due to an overly dark image but the sound is great and the supplements are... different. BJM definitely merits a rental, and a purchase may be justified as well.
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As a great man once said, there's a thin line between clever and stupid. Of
all recent movies, none straddle that line as precariously as 1999's bizarre
opus, Being John Malkovich. This film easily could have fallen into
a morass of art school pretentiousness but miraculously it somehow manages
to create one of the more entertaining and compelling cinematic experiences
I've seen in a while.
Being John Malkovich isn't a flawless or absolutely brilliant piece
of work, but it's damned different and it's also very well-executed. That's
a powerful combination that combines nicely in this case.
More consistently satisfying is the film's Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. It
provides a surprisingly broad and rich audio environment that presents
effective information from all sides. This doesn't seem to be the kind of
project that would lend itself to a wide surround presentation, but the
sound designers make the environment realistic and effective. The audio
seems well-placed and nicely localized, and it remains natural at all times;
the gimmicks used are appropriate but not overdone.
This year's truth in advertising award goes to "Don't Click Here - There Is
Nothing Here", a feature aimed at teasing the Easter egg hunting geek in all
of us. No prizes to anyone who guesses what they find when they click this
link.