|
 Director
: Spike Jonze
Starring
: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, John Malkovich, Catherine Keener,
Orson Bean, Mary Kay Place.
Picture
1.85:1 Anamorphic, DD 5.1, Single-Side Dual-Layer, Keep
Case
Running
Time : 113 mins
The
story:
Ever
want to be someone else? Now you can.
Craig
Schwartz (John Cusack) is a street puppeteer, struggling
to make ends meet and feed his wife (Cameron Diaz) and house
full of animals. Forced to take a job as a filing clerk
on the 7 1/2th floor of an office block, he discovers a
small door in his office. Venturing beyond into the small
tunnel is suddenly sucked into the portal.. and placed inside
John Malkovich's head! For the next 15 minutes his life
is transformed as he experiences the ultimate head trip
of being John Malkovich. After 15 minutes the thrill is
over as he is dumped onto the New Jersey turnpike. Together
with his wife and his office colleague, with whom he has
an unhealthy obsession, they hatch a plan to sell tickets
to John Malkovich's head for $200 a trip and rake in their
fortune..
The
summary:
Praised
by critics everywhere and yet oddly ignored at the Academy
Awards, this is the weird and wonderful concept of a portal
into somebody else's mind and seeing the world through their
eyes for 15 minutes. Without going into too much depth into
the actual story (believe me, there isn't enough space!)
what we have is a mind-blowing mix of humour, drama, fantasy
and illusion and really just has to be seen to be believed.
Some scenes are just plain bizarre and surreal, such as
the sight of a barely recognizable Cusack hunched over and
walking down a 5 ft high corridor, but throw in John Malkovich,
dancing around and poking fun at himself - well, whatever
you decide to call it, there's no denying it's originality.
The cast are fantastic - Cusack, Diaz (if I hadn't seen
her name on the box I wouldn't have recognized her!), Keener
and of course Malkovich all put in inspired performances
and indeed so do all the other supporting cast. Jonze directs
this film with the skill of an artist painting his vision
of a masterpiece and even if it's not remembered in years
to come as just that, it's certainly a wonderful piece of
cinema.
Full
praise as well to USA Home Entertainment, who have delivered
a top DVD package that does the film justice. The menus
are put together with the originality of the film, although
a commentary would have been welcome, as would more depth
to the features on offer. The transfer to DVD is exceptional
in both picture and sound quality. If you're still not convinced
then what more can we say?
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Extras:
*
Theatrical Trailer.
*
TV Spots - 4 TV spots
(or teaser trailers) - 3 for the film and one for J.M. -
advertising the portal into John's head.
*
7 1/2 Floor Orientation -
A short (2 min) advertisement for the new employees to the
7 1/2th floor.
*
Dance of Despair and Disillusionment
- This strange sounding extra is a look at the
life and times of the puppeteer, John Horatio Malkovich.
Sounds odd, but you have to see the film to understand!
5 mins.
*
A Page With Nothing On It -
Listed on the box as an extra and so for completeness we
mention it here - this really is just a blank page! I thought
it may contain a hidden extra, but no..
*
The Art of Puppeteering - A
short featurette on puppeteers. 5 mins.
*
An Interview With Spike Jonze-
An all too short interview with the talented Director himself.
*
The Art of Background Driving
- Continuing with the oddly titled extras this is the footage
taken from the car of one of the extras - her job was to
drive backwards and forwards with other extras to create
the traffic on the New Jersey turnpike! Another 5 minute
extra..
*
Cast & Crew - Text based
biographies and filmographies of the cast and crew.
*
Spike's Photo Album - A collection
of stills from the film.
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