Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
One day at work, unsuccessful puppeteer Craig finds a portal into the head of actor John Malkovich. The portal soon becomes a passion for anybody who enters its mad and controlling world of overtaking another human body.
Being John Malkovich is one of the most singularly original films of its era — Charlie Kaufman's debut screenplay is wildly inventive, using the Malkovich portal as a vehicle for exploring identity, desire, obsession, and control with darkly comic precision. The plot earns a 4 for its conceptual audacity and internal consistency within its own bizarre rules. Acting is exceptional across the board: John Cusack disappears into a greasy, desperate Craig; Cameron Diaz is genuinely transformative; Catherine Keener is acidly perfect; and Malkovich himself is a revelatory good sport who commits completely. Novelty is an easy 4 — this film is utterly unlike anything before or since, its voice unmistakably Kaufman-Jonze. Cinematography is solid and purposeful but not a primary artistic statement — Lance Acord's work serves the story well without calling attention to itself. The ending, while appropriately unsettling and conceptually coherent (Craig trapped behind Maxine's daughter's eyes), is slightly rushed and leaves some emotional threads dangling, earning a respectable but not exceptional score.