Being John Malkovich
In a nutshell: A puppeteer gets a job in a New York City office building, on the 7 ½ floor! He
then discovers a door way, which is actually a portal into the mind of actor
John Malkovich! I know, unusual right? But this unique and engrossing film is
handled with such imagination and creativity that well, you can’t help but get
caught up in it crazy premise. John Malkovich plays himself and comes to
discover that people are entering his mind for fifteen minutes at a time,
seeing and hearing everything he does.
What was different/original about
it? Everything!
Directed by a then little-known Spike Jonze, this film took “original” to a
whole new level. It explored the idea of entering the mind of another person,
in this case actor John Malkovich. It portrayed characters who were extremely
dysfunctional, but felt empowered and renewed after temporarily being someone
else; creating an addiction to living vicariously through someone else and the
associated attention and fortune that came with that. Too much of this turned
the characters into greedy, self-centred and delusional individuals,
reinforcing the message that believing you’ll become truly happy by living
someone else’s life is not the answer.
How did it change movies? It took actors who you were familiar with from
certain roles, and completely turned them around; reinventing their look and
image, showing they had more acting chops than people gave them credit for,
especially Cameron Diaz. It brought quirky, weird and challenging new ideas to
the fray and inspired a slew of off-beat and confusing movies to follow in the
years after, and well into today. It showed that “celebrity” was a sense of
self and that certain artists/entertainers would do anything to maintain that high
level of wealth and privilege…. even if that meant abandoning who they really
were in favour of fame and fortune.
Next up,..."Fight Club"
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Next up,..."Fight Club"
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