Adaptation (2002) Columbia Pictures
1 hr. 51 mins.
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton, Cara Seymour, Brian Cox, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ron Livingston
Directed by: Spike Jonze
Hands down, Adaptation has to be one of the most perplexing and perversely funny films of the year. Shrewdly imaginative and wry, director Spike Jonze’s frenzied narrative is a joyfully frustrating story that boasts terrifically pronounced performances put on by an impressive array of astute players. The collaboration of Jonze’s unorthodox direction and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s script hasn’t been this delightfully solid since their surrealistic joyride in 1999’s wonderfully erratic comedy Being John Malkovich. Consequently, it’s always a daunting challenge to see what emerges from the mind of a talented and off-kilter filmmaker such as Jonze.
As a subversive feature, Adaptation may not appear as an impeccable specimen of completeness due to its intentional scattershot direction and uncertainty but its heart definitely relishes the fascinating observation about artists and the inherent madness they undergo in bringing their creativity to the forefront. This is the kind of film that grows on you every waking moment you try and endure its wacky structure. Refreshingly unconventional and keenly sharp, Adaptation is clearly a confirming caustic gem that has an abundance of passion and audacity.
The movie’s plot involves real-life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (played in the film by Oscar-winner Nicolas Cage) and his attempt to adapt real-life author Susan Orlean’s (played in the film by Oscar-winner Meryl Streep) nonfiction novel “The Orchid Thief” into a viable Hollywood screenplay. Charlie, in the process of trying to take on this daunting task, spends countless moments contemplating his effectiveness as a determined but self-loathing writer. In fact, his neurosis is his own crutch that he likes to lean on hence welcoming blatant shades of self-doubt and inner turmoil.
While in the midst of struggling with his demons both personally and professionally, Charlie has to contend with dealing with his shady twin brother Donald (also played by Cage) who also has visions of a screenwriting career. But Donald’s goal includes conjuring up sensationalistic and junkie Hollywood tripe that undermines Charlie’s destiny in developing challenging and insightful film projects that are the complete antithesis of what his sibling Donald envisions ideally as “fast food” entertainment.
Thus, the film presents an interesting dichotomy because we have two separate souls whose physical makeup is very much alike but as for their filmmaking philosophy, it’s so radically different. Charlie, although conflicted, is very intuitive and soulful in the way he approaches his artistry as an intense writer who wants to promote sound cinema. This is all the more reason why his fortitude to bringing the resonance of “The Orchid Thief” to the big screen is admirable. Yet Donald is less pragmatic about his cinematic ambitions and wants to live the life of a glorified Hollywood hack. At this point, maybe the footnote should be included that Donald isn’t actually a real person in the real life of Charlie Kaufman. Instead, he’s a mental invention of Charlie…an alter ego designed to combat the very same fear that haunts the driven Kaufman – the fear of becoming a sellout commodity in the moviemaking industry.
Adaptation is delightfully delirious when its behind-the-scenes chaotic scheme creates a crafty and complex stir. The film’s ability to intertwine its characters (real, fictional, imaginary, literary, etc.) in a cocktail of a twisted story is a dizzying and devilish undertaking. Set against the backdrop of the Being John Malkovich production, Adaptation comes into full fruition. With that being said, the film may come off as convoluted and congested with its inside references to the Hollywood hemisphere and all its off-kilter quirks. But that’s what is uniqueness about this film in the manner in which it skews the moviemaking system and the components that make up this whole profitable machinery.
There are many elements that make Adaptation so clever and involving. Pick any number of factors and go from there: the self-deprecating humor (one might care to observe how many times that Cage’s Charlie Kaufman refers to himself as fat, bald and ugly), the hilarious one-liners, the characters’ flaunting their flaws in honest and revealing fashion, the interpretation of presenting one art form (Orlean’s expressive novel) into another (it’s movie-themed counterpart), etc. The performances are highly spirited and satirically stinging. Cage has a marvelously naughty turn as the self-inflicted browbeating screenwriter trying to come to copes with his integrity in work that he treats with more reverence than he does himself. And of course his portrayal of the opportunistic cad Donald Kaufman is equally spry and pleasing. Streep exhibits an adventurous aura as writer Susan Orlean and her entanglement with John Laroche (Chris Cooper, Lone Star), the intrusive orchid breeder who’s the inspiration for her indomitable read that eventually became a national bestseller. Overall, it’s fascinating to see the one-on-one dynamics that confront each other: brother vs. brother, savvy author vs. her strong-willed subject matter, artists vs. their penetrating product – the list goes on and on.
If anything, Adaptation continues to signify the wacky genius of tandem Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman. The cohesiveness of this film is an astonishing stunt that captures the wily potency of the screenwriting craft behind all the mayhem and madcap tendencies. Much like Being John Malkovich, the Jonze-Kaufman connection taps into a verve that’s so compelling yet cockeyed. This showcase is happily sardonic and doesn’t mind reveling in its rickety boundaries. It has a distinctive combination of being toxic and tender, intelligent yet insane.
Weirdly wound up tight like an expensive watch, Adaptation will be one of the most enjoyable and puzzling pictures that you’ll ever see that exposes the Hollywood hoopla from a different perspective. Original and shamelessly self-absorbed, this is one movie that has a fabulous time sticking its tongue out at the vulnerability and vitality of the filmmaking capital of the world known informally as Tinseltown.
Click here to comment on this review or post your own thoughts.
Frank Ochieng
© TheWorldJournal.com
