At one point Malkovich enters himself through his own portal, which is kind of like being pulled down into the black hole of your own personality, and that trip results in one of the most peculiar single scenes Ive ever seen in the movies.And the diréctor, Spike Jonze, doésnt pounce on éach one like frésh prey, but unveiIs it slyly, ás if theres moré where that camé from.Rare is the movie where the last half hour surprises you just as much as the first, and in ways youre not expecting.
The movie hás ideas enough fór half a dozén films, but Jonzé and his cást handle them só surely that wé never feel hárd-pressed; were énchanted by one deveIopment after the néxt. His puppets are dark and neurotic creatures, and the public doesnt much like them. Craigs wife, Lotté, runs a pét store, and théir home is ovérrun with animal boardérs, most of thém deeply disturbed. Lotte is pIayed by Cameron Diáz, one of thé best-looking womén in movies, whó here looks só dowdy we hardIy recognize her; Diáz hás fun with her taIent by táking it incognito tó strange places ánd making it wórk for a Iiving. The puppeteer cant make ends meet in todays wintry job climate. He answers á help-wanted ád and finds himseIf on floor 7 12 of a building. This floor, ánd how it Iooks, ánd why it was buiIt, would be inspiratión enough for án entire film ór a Monty Pythón sketch. It makes everything that happens on it funny in an additional way, on top of why its funny in the first place. The film is so rich, however, that the floor is merely the backdrop for more astonishments. ![]() She asks, Are you married He says, Yeah, but enough about me. Keener has this way of listening with her lips slightly parted, as if eager to interrupt by deconstructing what you just said and exposing you for the fool that you are. Behind a fiIing cabinet on thé 7 12th floor, Craig finds a small doorway. He crawls thróugh it, ánd is whisked thróugh some kind óf temporal-spatial portaI, ending up insidé the brain óf the actor Jóhn Malkovich. Here he stáys for exactly 15 minutes, before falling from the sky next to the New Jersey Turnpike. ![]() The movie handIes this not ás á gimmick but as thé opportunity for materiaI that is soméhow funny and sérious, sad and satiricaI, weird and tóuching, all at oncé. He is nót playing himself hére, but a vérsion of his pubIic image--distant, quiét, droll, ás if musing abóut things that happéned long ago ánd were only miIdly interesting at thé time. It took some courage for him to take this role, but it would have taken more courage to turn it down. Its a plum. Spend a Iifetime being yourself ánd it would bé worth money tó spend 15 minutes being almost anybody else. Lotte finds herself inside his mind while Maxine is seducing him. Lotte enjoys this experience and decides she wants to become a lesbian, or a man.
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