Acclaimed screenwriter Charlie
Kaufman is hired to adapt the novel The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. The
trouble is – he is having a very difficult time finding the story he wants to
tell. He begins to snoop into the life of the book’s author for clues only to
find himself pulled into a whole ordeal. And, the make matters worse, his nincompoop
brother, Donald, has decided to write a terrible screenplay on a whim, but
seems to be receiving praise from everyone around him, making Charlie’s stress and
frustration with his own failings all the more unbearable.
The director-writer team of Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman
earned a ton of praise for their film Being John
Malkovich, leading expectations to be incredibly high for Adaptation. Jonze
brings his group of collaborators back with him again, including: composer Carter Burwell,
cinematographer Lance
Acord, and production designer K.K. Barrett.
The cast is fantastic, starring Nicolas Cage
as Charlie and Donald Kaufman (giving maybe his best performance of his career –
perfectly tapping into his own madness in a very positive and beneficial way). Tilda Swinton,
Meryl Streep,
Chris Cooper
(who won an Oscar for his work), Jim Beaver, Cara Seymour,
Judy Greer,
Maggie
Gyllenhaal, Ron Livingston,
and Brian Cox
feature in support.
The film is insane. Being John
Malkovich is very ambitious and different (as are Kaufman’s other projects Human Nature,
Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Synecdoche, New
York), but Adaptation. is insane. Just watch the film – but continue
reading if you do not mind some spoilers. Kaufman sets out to actually adapt
Orlean’s book about orchids, but ends up writing himself into the story along
with his fictional brother (a brother that the Academy of Motion Pictures and
Sciences also nominated for best writing). Kaufman also turns the film into
some kind of crazy thriller, filled with sex and drugs. It is a book about
flowers that becomes an over the top Hollywood action film (of sorts) – utter madness.
Jonze delivers fantastic directing and gets brilliant performances from his
cast. This is one of the best and most interesting films of the last decade.
Trailer: Here
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