Being John Malkovich

9/26/2022

Full review: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2YaFaVOq4cOeC7BBgUgmou?si=dfb200c90b4d4e74 ---- While there are many movies about self discovery, self growth and identity, not many (if really any) have taken the approach of 'Being John Malkovich'. The general premise of the movie is: struggling puppeteer Craig discovers a portal allowing him to enter the mind of the actor John Malkovich. Through multiple attempts of possessing John Malkovich, he is able to take control of the actor and live his life through him. His wife, Lotte, and his new love interest Maxine are also entangled in the journey. The finale of the movie shifts the dynamics in the relationship as Lotte and Maxine find love and Craig is eventually forever trapped in a kind of 'sunken place'. While the movies plot is so

1/6/2025

<em>'Being John Malkovich'</em> sure is quite something! Despite not knowing the type of movie that it is, I'm always wanted to get this one watched purely because of the title. Now I've seen it, I'm pleased I've done so. It's strange on the surface, though by the end it's... almost normal? Based on the opening and the genre it's listed under on Wikipedia, I was expecting more of an artsy sorta thing. Pleasantly, it isn't that. Of course it has deeper meaning and I'm not saying I got 100% of it, though in the end it's relatively simple. But impressive and original, no doubt. I love that John Malkovich agreed to do this, I now read that he was apparently "half intrigued and half horrified" when he first read the script - I can see why! John Cusack, Cameron Diaz (took me a while to rec

3/20/2026

“Craig” (John Cusack) is married to “Lotte” (Cameron Diaz) but it’s more of a convenient arrangement as they both struggle to make ends meet. He is a professional puppeteer so whilst that allows him to dwell in world of creative fantasy, it doesn’t put food on the table. To supplement his income he takes a job working in a New York office building that could have come straight out of Lewis Carroll. Everyone has to stoop, the elevators are barely big enough to accommodate an human being and the whole place has a distinctly curious feel to it. He takes a bit of a shine to his colleague “Maxine” (Catherine Keener) but she’s pretty disinterested in having a fling with a scruffy looking married man, so poor old “Craig” is fairly despondent when he discovers a small door hidden behind one of the