#611: JONZE, Spike: Being John Malkovich (1999)

JONZE, Spike (United States)

Being John Malkovich [1999]

Spine #611
Blu-ray

Have you ever wanted to be someone else? Or, more specifically, have you ever wanted to crawl through a portal hidden in an anonymous office building and thereby enter the cerebral cortex of John Malkovich for fifteen minutes, before being spat out on the side of the New Jersey Turnpike? Then director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman have the movie for you. Melancholy marionettes, office drudgery, a frizzy-haired Cameron Diaz — but that's not all! Surrealism, possession, John Cusack, a domesticated primate, Freud. Catherine Keener, non sequiturs, and absolutely no romance! But wait: get your Being John Malkovich now and we'll throw in emasculation, slapstick, Abelard and Heloise, and extra Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich!

113 minutes
Color

5.1 Surround

1:85:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2012

Director/Writers

Written by Charlie Kaufman.

Spike Jonze was 30 when he directed Being John Malkovich.

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Sixteen-page booklet featuring a conversation between Jonze and pop culture critic Perkus Tooth.

Commentary

Selected-scene commentary featuring Jonze’s friend and competitor the filmmaker Michel Gondry.

Behind-the-scenes

Documentary by filmmaker Lance Bangs.

Conversation

Between actor Malkovich and humorist John Hodgman.

Interview

With Jonze in which he discusses his on-set photos.

Two films

Within the film: 7½ Floor Orientation and “American Arts & Culture” Presents John Horatio Malkovich: “Dance of Despair and Disillusionment.”

An Intimate Portrait of the Art of Puppeteering

A documentary by Bangs.

Trailer and TV spots

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

99

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