Being John Malkovich (1999)
Director: Spike Jonze
Writer: Charlie Kaufman
(IMDb)
Introduction:
“Being John Malkovich” is the story of young puppeteer named Craig Schwartz. Since he is struggling to launch his career, Craig is forced to find a regular job.. He finds one as a filing clerk at Lester Corp, which is located on the seventh and a half floor. While there he discovers a portal, leading into the mind of well known actor John Malkovich.Later, he is convinced by the woman he adores, Maxine, to start selling “rides” to be John Malkovich and make profit after business hours. However, he allows his wife to try it and through the portal she witnesses John Malkovich showering, and she realizes that she wants to be a man, and through this falls in love with Maxine. After Craig is able to control John Malkovich, Craig then enters Malkovich once more and controls him for seven years. During that time, he married Maxine, has a child and reaches further fame with puppeteer. In the meantime, Craig’s ex-wife finds out that Craig’s old employer knows about the portal and was going to use to it to extend his life. Through threatening Craig they force him to leave Malkovich taking him over once and for all. 
Review:
Some of the greatest things about “Being John Malkovich” reside in the cinematic techniques. They make the movie interesting to look at, as well as makes the overall quality of the movie better. The framing of each scene makes is an example of a cinematic technique that makes the movie more interesting. For instance, the beginning scene when you see the curtains and the doll, due to the framing of the shot you feel as if you are actually there watching this show at a theater. Furthermore the framing of the seventh and a half floor really makes you feel as if you yourself are being crammed in there as well. You understand just how small it really is. Although all those things are great they are nothing compared to how important framing comes into play when we are in John Malkovich’s eyes. The corners of the screen are slightly faded which give the effect and feeling of being further back in his head, observing but not capable of actions.
Another very relevant and important technique present in the movie is the angles at which each shot is taken at, play a huge part in the storytelling of this movie. We also feel that we must talk about the camera movement at the same time because we believe that in this movie they go quite hand in hand with each other. These techniques are most notably exhibited in the moments of drama and action or importance, for examples, the eye-level angles and panning of the camera in correlation to the movement of Craig’s puppets including Malkovich. When you see them doing the dance the way that the camera follows the actions of the puppet allows you to feel the emotion and passion poured into them by Craig. We find this very important because it displays his power and skill as a puppeteer.
Furthermore, the editing of the film is quite impressive especially when someone is transitioning to John and flies down the tunnel and lands into his head is quite an experience in itself. The fact is that it almost makes you feel as if you are there yourself. This can be seen throughout this movie and is one of the main reasons it is enjoyable to watch.
The sound and lighting also help with this effect because they choose the perfect swooshing sound when they fall down the tube and the perfect amount of darkness which makes this absurd circumstance a very realistic one.
When watching the movie, we were interested as to how much money they spent on it because the set is very elaborate, the fact that they actually made a “mini” floor and so realistic is quite fascinating and a little weird, it puts your head in a strange place because yes, everything is normal but oh wait the ceiling is way too low, and it's hard for your mind to cope with that.
There are multiple questions raised in the film. Some of them are related to : Are we really controlling ourselves? When Malkovich is subconsciously being controlled by others, one may ask themselves this question. It also makes one reflect if it is possible to be controlled by another being. Another theme covered in this movie is subjectivity. This theme is covered throughout the entirety of the film. This is covered through the influence one's emotions and other aspect, has one’s actions. For example Maxine uses Craig to get what she wants, both in Malkovich's body and outside. Since Craig is blinded by love, he does what Maxine wants. We will be covering more about themes later on in his blog.
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Rating the Movie/ Strengths and weaknesses :
Although the movie is philosophically rich in content, it lacks the potential to be taken seriously . This is due to the consistent amount of absurdity that the film contains. Whether it’s the way people act, the hobby of the main character and his wife, the existence of a 7 ½ floor, or even the entire plot itself.
If there's any reason anyone should see Being John Malkovich at all, it's for how different it is. We have never seen anything like it before, and it is by far one of the weirdest movies we have ever seen in our lives. Craig Schwartz (played by John Cusack) discovers a tiny door behind a filing cabinet in his office in which people can crawl through and literally see the world through John Malkovich's eyes. It's a very original idea, and it is certainly weird. It's sad that an idea like this was wasted.
After Craig introduces the "portal" to his co-worker and even his own wife, they
all get tangled up in a bizarre love story; in which Craig's co-worker likes to have romantic relations with John Malkovich while Craig's wife is watching through his eyes. It's a lot weirder than it sounds. The film breaks down into a meaningless love story that had no point even being in the movie which we found impossible to connect too simply because of how bizarre it was.
When it come to the quality of the film, it wasn’t that great. This is understandable since the movie was made 18 years ago, so it’s not what we are used really to now. As watchers we could tell that this move was made some time ago. Seeing that it was made in 1999 we could see some static on the screen during the film (even on different electronics).
The weakness of the film would be that there is a disconnection with characters since we couldn’t really relate to any of them especially when it came to Lotte. We all agreed upon the fact that she would just use character either to get money, pleasure or to be with them just to be recognized.
Discussing the strengths of the movie we touched upon how each character's development was kind of impressive, there epiphanies where kind of weird but it did help with their development and made it easier to see the change in their characteristics physically and emotionally. For more information about this topic go to: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120601
Three Course Connections:
- The concepts of subjectivity is touched upon through the theme of puppetry. We can define subjectivity as the quality of of one's experience and perception influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions. Throughout the film, Craig uses puppets to express how he feels. In his “puppet world” Craig always gets what he wants, an example of this would be the scene where Craig confesses his love for Maxine and wins her heart over. In the real world, Maxine rejects Craig and wants nothing to do with him. This shows the viewer the different subjectivities that exist.
Moreover, subjectivity and emotions can influence one's experience. Maxine uses Craig as a puppet to get what she wants, both in Malkovich's body and outside. Maxine wants money thinking it will make her happy but in the end it does not. She uses Craig as an assistant and when in Malkovich's body she uses him to get money. Craig, blinded by his love for Maxine, does everything she wants, thinking it will make her fall in love with him. What seems like a good idea in a certain period of time, may not be a good idea later on. This also shows the viewer how one's actions are influenced by their subjectivity.
- During the entirety of the movie, the viewer is constantly questioning themselves about what is real. This is studied by a branch of philosophy called Metaphysics. Metaphysics is the foundation of a worldview. It answers the question "What is?" Are we truly in power of all of our thoughts? An example of this is when Lottie is able to change Malkovich's mind about meeting Maxine and he does not know she did. Another example of this is when Craig takes over Malkovich’s body. This raises multiple questions in terms of metaphysics. Are we truly in power of all of our thoughts? What is controlling our subconsciousness? What is our mind able to do?
- Are we truly in power of all of our thoughts? Is also a question that is brought up when we talk about the microbiome. The microbiome refers to the bacteria living in the human body and this concept challenges the sovereignty of the brain, like this movie does. The microbiome challenges the sovereignty of the brain because the human body is made up of 10 times more bacteria cells than human cells, and control a lot of our functions we thing the brain does. This raises the question: do we have full control of our body? In the movie, this question is also raised. When Craig is able to subconsciously control Malkovich, this questions the sovereignty of the brain. Are we really in control of our thoughts?
Three question for the reader:
- What happened to Craig's body the whole time he was in john Malkovich?
- Who are you? Maybe a joke, maybe not. Thing about it.
- Have you ever had a moment where you do not know why you acted a certain way? Could it have been someone or something else controlling you?
Interesting links:
For more interesting question related to “Being John Malkovich” go to the following website: http://www.philfilms.utm.edu/1/being.htm
For more information about the control of one's mind here is an interesting article by Christof Koch: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/being-john-malkovich/
By: Cédric Kousaie, Ali Mushtaq, Benjamin Velitchkov, Samer Safadi
Works cited
IMDb. n.d.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120601/. 09 10 2017.
a) To answer your third question, yes, it happened to me a few times, wondering why I acted in a certain way. Luckily for me, I don’t think that it could have been someone or something controlling me. In John Malkovich’s case, he is clearly being controlled by a brain that is not his, on the other side, whenever it happens to me, I’m able to ask myself questions about that behavior. Most of the time, when I think about it, I realize that it feels more like a nervous response from my body to some external activity around my body. It has never happened that like Malkovich, at some point, I said a word or created some sounds with my mouth spontaneously, without reason. I guess what I experienced was what some call a “brain-lag”, which happens when we do something that was stupid, and you then realize that if you would’ve thought about it, it wouldn’t have happened. Even thought, sometimes I do say things without thinking about my words, it doesn’t mean I don’t have an idea behind these words and, I know that what comes out of my mouth is related to my thinking. It is not like Malkovich who realises that something that wasn’t himself was controlling himself since he recognized that the words he said didn’t have anything to do with what he was thinking. That’s my way to perceive it, but of course, I don’t have any proof to show that I’m right, maybe there is such a thing that can control people and we aren’t aware of it.
ReplyDeleteb) To begin with, your blog is really interesting; you made a great connection that we didn’t make in our blog on the same movie, now that you mentioned it, it pops to my eyes. You said that there is a connection between the love stories between the main characters and the experience of going through the portal. I totally agree with you! On the other side, I think you are contradicting yourselves when you are talking about the quality of the movie. You first said, “When watching the movie, we were interested as how much money they spent on it because the set is very elaborate.” You then explained how nice the set was. On the other side, you add in another section of the blog, you say, “it wasn’t that great.” Speaking about the quality of the movie. For me it sounds a little bit contradictory as I read everything. Maybe it’s not what you meant, but as a reader, I’m just pointing it out. Overall great job!
ReplyDeleteTo answer your first question, it’s quite difficult to imagine where Craig’s body could be when Craig’s consciousness is inside Malkovich. The director doesn’t go deep into the explanation as to where it could be so the question is left to the imagination. The movie does leave a few hints as to where Craig’s body may be. For example, the user will enter threw the tunnel and will be spat out next to the highway a large distance away. We can be certain that this drop off has nothing to do with Malkovich, for no matter where Malkovich is or what he’s doing, you’ll always be dropped off at the exact same place. Another interesting hint is how Craig managed to stay inside Malkovich for 8 months, but Craig’s body looked almost identical when he left Malkovich’s body as when he entered. Craig’s facial hair looking identical to what it was when he first entered Malkovich, but also Craig’s muscle mass never changed even after 8 months of no physical activity. While I can’t be certain as to where Craig’s body went when he was in Malkovich, I know that Craig’s body does not age and somehow appears next to the highway. My best guest would be that Craig’s body somehow follows his consciousness in a non-materialistic way eventually leaving over the side of the highway.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your first question, I believe that this concept has something in common with the topic of the Tulpas. Even though John Malkovich is not creating Craig, Craig takes over John’s mind by entering it. So in my opinion, when he uses the door to enter John’s minds, he goes in with his body too and his body shrinks to be able to fit in John’s head. With this, he’s able to control John’s whole self. Just like a Tulpas owner, he imagines the Tulpas’ self, the Tulpas can take over his owner’s body and control his emotions and actions. From my perspective, Craig is living a double life; him as Craig and him as John, two different persons and lifestyles that he has to adjust to. I also believe that by entering John’s body and controlling him for seven years made him go crazy and stopped him from living HIS life and fulfilling his dreams, the way he’s supposed to.
ReplyDeleteI think someone may act unconsciously, in such a way that you feel as if you are someone else sometimes. I’m sure it happened to me several times but the time that pops up in my head right now is an argument I once had with my mother. I don’t even remember what the argument was about; all I remember is that I said some things that I would usually never dare to say to my mother. It could have been the accumulation of small little conflicts or only feelings taking over, but I did not feel as if it were me talking. At that time no one other than I was controlling me and I don’t really think someone else could actually control you. There is an exception and that is hypnotism. The only way I think someone could control you is by hypnotizing you, which is a subject that has always fascinated me. Even hallucination keeps me skeptical as I think it is only an illusion and that there is a way to control your body even if you are being hypnotized.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you commented on the framing used while we were in Malkovich’s head. I also enjoy the fact that you put emphasis on the movie’s absurdity when judging the movie. This is an aspect we did not talk about in our blog and I wish we had as It is a huge aspect of this movie. More sub headings could have been a good way to organize your text as I feel it is difficult to know where you are at in your blog if you don’t read a couple of sentences. A prop that we both could have talked about is the piece of wood Craig had in his hands when he entered Malkovich’s mind for the first time. The only time we saw the piece of wood again was at the end of the movie when Craig was kicked out of Malkovich’s body. This piece of wood may represent Craig, after getting kicked out; he was the same socially awkward puppeteer as in the beginning of the movie.
ReplyDeleteThis blog entry really makes me want to see this movie. The way they explain the cinematic techniques is very clear. The points they made are very true such as the "vision" withe the blurred sides, which they were kind enough to add a picture for reference. This movie looks quite comical. Their layout is very concise and well indicated with sub-titles and paragraphs, it's very good to keep the reader's attention. I like that they were honest about the negative points of the movie and not focused on "selling" the movie as we would see on biased commercials.
ReplyDelete