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Adaptation
Film Review
Rarely can we experience the thrill of movies that are so unconventional, it deserves to have a genre of its own. From writer, Charlie Kaufman and director, Spike Jonze, of the dazzling Being John Malkovich, comes this witty and wildly amusing movie, Adaptation.
Based from the national best-seller book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, is the off-the-wall uniqueness along with the ironic humor and melancholic parody of Adaptation. Completely bending off the traditional rules of visual play fair and predictable story line, it sets forth a distinctive and eccentric voice in modern cinema- Charlie Kaufman’s.
To deconstruct its plot is a challenge; in much the same way to box it in a category would only leave a person trailing behind its bewildering intricacies. But to put it simply, the movie, instead of completely relying on a ‘plotless’ and ‘conflictless’ book, writer Kaufman has ingeniously adapted the book while actually interlacing it with his own experience of writing the book. Sounds confusing? It really is.
The film centers about The Orchid Thief in a vastly imaginative yet thoughtful account of Orlean (Meryl Streep) making an in-depth coverage of the account of John Laroche (Chris Cooper), an orchid poacher who is studying a rare variety of orchid-‘the ghost orchid’. In what supposed to be a story about Orlean and Laroche, their passion for orchids and everything in between, the script went beyond it and gave off some eerie twists. As the film progresses, the movie has now incorporated Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) in his journey in translating the book into a movie. Now here is where the story becomes even more confusing but also becomes increasingly interesting.
The process of adapting the book into a movie not only gravitated through Kaufman’s personal failures but also by the nosiness of another Kaufman- Donald Kaufman (also played by Nicolas Cage), Charlie’s twin brother and seemingly his polar opposite. Donald’s whimsical decision to land in the field of screenwriting, like his brother Charlie, convinced him to write a formulaic thriller. And with this, he’s willing to learn via helping Charlie in his adaptation of the book.
Cage, who plays both Charlie and Donald Kaufman gave both characters different but genuine portrayals. Admirably, he creates both light-hearted and pesky light to their personas. The audience’s intellectual ethos for Charlie is complemented with Donald’s dumb-luck and unfeigned thoughtfulness. While, Streep, often hailed as the best actress of her generation, gave another brilliant performance as carefree but troubled Orlean. She inhabits the character with an air of wonderful skepticism and dramatic vulnerability that is somewhat a bit experimental but surprisingly effective. Her dazed telephone call to Laroche aka ‘the dial tone’ scene is one of the most comical depictions of someone high on drugs. Cooper as Laroche is one of those mystifying personalities who grace the screen and Cooper has managed it with firm conviction along with bits of hilarity. He lets us examine and understand Laroche’s puzzling natures.
Fellow actors Tilda Swinton, Brian Cox and Maggie Gyllenhaal, and John Malkovich (with his appearance at the Being John Malkovich set) may have been featured on screen for only quite a while but all had unforgettable parts.
Adaptation has truly modified, if not changed, the cliché-laden Hollywood flicks. It does not only explore a character, a script or a movie but the world of film experience of its own. Because of its fragile complexity and enthralling theme, its writer Kaufman along with Jonze as the director can be extended with much kudos for their original and exquisite masterpiece. Penning something so peculiar, Kaufman is a league of his own; he captivates us with movies that seem to be dumbfounding but actually have simple themes, movies which deal with our insecurities, imperfections, loneliness, and the passion and misunderstanding of human dynamism. Jonze, one the other hand, shares his appreciative visual modality, keeping us in awe of his craft and his ability to let us also discover and enjoy it.
Adaptation is yet another film experience that shouldn’t be missed.
Film Review
Rarely can we experience the thrill of movies that are so unconventional, it deserves to have a genre of its own. From writer, Charlie Kaufman and director, Spike Jonze, of the dazzling Being John Malkovich, comes this witty and wildly amusing movie, Adaptation.
Based from the national best-seller book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, is the off-the-wall uniqueness along with the ironic humor and melancholic parody of Adaptation. Completely bending off the traditional rules of visual play fair and predictable story line, it sets forth a distinctive and eccentric voice in modern cinema- Charlie Kaufman’s.
To deconstruct its plot is a challenge; in much the same way to box it in a category would only leave a person trailing behind its bewildering intricacies. But to put it simply, the movie, instead of completely relying on a ‘plotless’ and ‘conflictless’ book, writer Kaufman has ingeniously adapted the book while actually interlacing it with his own experience of writing the book. Sounds confusing? It really is.
The film centers about The Orchid Thief in a vastly imaginative yet thoughtful account of Orlean (Meryl Streep) making an in-depth coverage of the account of John Laroche (Chris Cooper), an orchid poacher who is studying a rare variety of orchid-‘the ghost orchid’. In what supposed to be a story about Orlean and Laroche, their passion for orchids and everything in between, the script went beyond it and gave off some eerie twists. As the film progresses, the movie has now incorporated Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) in his journey in translating the book into a movie. Now here is where the story becomes even more confusing but also becomes increasingly interesting.
The process of adapting the book into a movie not only gravitated through Kaufman’s personal failures but also by the nosiness of another Kaufman- Donald Kaufman (also played by Nicolas Cage), Charlie’s twin brother and seemingly his polar opposite. Donald’s whimsical decision to land in the field of screenwriting, like his brother Charlie, convinced him to write a formulaic thriller. And with this, he’s willing to learn via helping Charlie in his adaptation of the book.
Cage, who plays both Charlie and Donald Kaufman gave both characters different but genuine portrayals. Admirably, he creates both light-hearted and pesky light to their personas. The audience’s intellectual ethos for Charlie is complemented with Donald’s dumb-luck and unfeigned thoughtfulness. While, Streep, often hailed as the best actress of her generation, gave another brilliant performance as carefree but troubled Orlean. She inhabits the character with an air of wonderful skepticism and dramatic vulnerability that is somewhat a bit experimental but surprisingly effective. Her dazed telephone call to Laroche aka ‘the dial tone’ scene is one of the most comical depictions of someone high on drugs. Cooper as Laroche is one of those mystifying personalities who grace the screen and Cooper has managed it with firm conviction along with bits of hilarity. He lets us examine and understand Laroche’s puzzling natures.
Fellow actors Tilda Swinton, Brian Cox and Maggie Gyllenhaal, and John Malkovich (with his appearance at the Being John Malkovich set) may have been featured on screen for only quite a while but all had unforgettable parts.
Adaptation has truly modified, if not changed, the cliché-laden Hollywood flicks. It does not only explore a character, a script or a movie but the world of film experience of its own. Because of its fragile complexity and enthralling theme, its writer Kaufman along with Jonze as the director can be extended with much kudos for their original and exquisite masterpiece. Penning something so peculiar, Kaufman is a league of his own; he captivates us with movies that seem to be dumbfounding but actually have simple themes, movies which deal with our insecurities, imperfections, loneliness, and the passion and misunderstanding of human dynamism. Jonze, one the other hand, shares his appreciative visual modality, keeping us in awe of his craft and his ability to let us also discover and enjoy it.
Adaptation is yet another film experience that shouldn’t be missed.
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