Movie-A-Day #169: Adaptation.

Evil Ash

Henchman Supreme
Joined
Jun 26, 2003
Posts
9,757
Reaction score
1,987
Location
On a flying cocoon
Here's another one of my favorites that has come out recently. Unfortunately, in picking any movie written by Charlie Kaufman it is difficult to put into words the genius that he puts into the screenplays to give them any justice at all (which is kind of ironic due to one of the storylines being about writers block). Just as an example, Charlie creates an imaginary twin brother that is so well written you actually start to believe that he exists.

Nicholas Cage leads a solid cast and the directing of Spike Jonze was fantastic. Although, I do admit that movies that come from Kaufman's screenplays are an acquired taste, this a movie that I think many people would enjoy. A very creative movie that I highly recommend to anybody!

SYNOPSIS from Rotten Tomatoes:

Following up their acclaimed debut, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze are back to metaphysical moviemaking with ADAPTATION. The film stars Nicolas Cage as both Charlie Kaufman himself and his fictionalized identical twin brother, Donald Kaufman. While the boisterous Donald freeloads off of his sibling and works on a serial-killer movie script, Charlie is tormented by both his own army of neuroses and his new project, adapting THE ORCHID THIEF by Susan Orlean into a screenplay. As Charlie struggles to shape the nonfiction novel into a film, he begins writing himself into the story of Orlean (Meryl Streep), a sad-eyed journalist, and her subject, renegade Florida flower expert John Laroche (Chris Cooper). The resulting tale extends far beyond the scope of the book, stretching from Hollywood to New York to...Hollywood four billion years ago.

Equally as inventive as BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, ADAPTATION revels in its gloriously absurd premise. Kaufman and Jonze skillfully sidestep the pitfalls of such a seemingly self-indulgent project, creating a multilayered film that focuses on the writing process as well as the nature of beauty, the beauty of nature, and dozens of other significant themes. Cage makes a stunning return to pre-Bruckheimer form in the roles of the Kaufman brothers, giving their identical appearances completely different personalities and making them believable to boot. Meanwhile, the consistently excellent Streep and the often underrated Cooper are perfectly matched as Orlean and Laroche. Even the less central roles are played by great actors--Brian Cox, Tilda Swinton, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Ron Livingston appear as supporting characters. Careening wildly between the hilarious, the ridiculous, and the poignant, Kaufman and Jonze's ADAPTATION is another fine example of their bravura yet sincere style of cinema.

You must be registered for see images
 

FischerKing

Beer me a post...
Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2002
Posts
9,238
Reaction score
4
Location
Scranton, PA
Good pick - Kaufman keeps getting better with each pic he puts out. This was my favorite until Eternal Sunshine was released. It's nice to see something fresh and original come out of Hollywood. Kaufman is going to continue to just get better as he fine-tunes his style with each movie that he does. Good pick! :thumbup:

Shawn
 

jf-08

chohan
Administrator
Super Moderator
Supporting Member
Joined
May 15, 2002
Posts
28,076
Reaction score
24,093
Location
Eye in the Sky
I loved this film. At first I was bored to tears, but then I just became engrossed in the film.

It was absolutely brilliant that when "his brother" started to write the screenplay was when the movie started to become an action flick. Absolutley Birlliant writing by Kaufman. He is something special.

One of my all time favorite movies. Great choice.
 

D-Dogg

A Whole New World
Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2003
Posts
45,048
Reaction score
1,169
Location
In The End Zone
Charlie is brilliant...amazingly creative writer. I just bought Adaptation at Blockbuster the other day for 8 bucks...can't wait to watch it again...it's been almost a year since I saw it last and it is still fresh in my head.

Eternal Sunshine I found to be my favorite Kaufman movie (and one of my favorite all time movies) but Adaptation is no less brilliant.

Charlie Kaufman is the writing version of Pixar in my mind; any time either of those puts a movie out, I would see it even if I knew absolutely nothing but that they were involved.
 

Chaplin

Better off silent
Joined
May 13, 2002
Posts
46,464
Reaction score
16,991
Location
Round Rock, TX
I love Eternal Sunshine as well, but since I'm a writer, I'm guessing that's why I liked Adaptation better.
 

Cheesebeef

ASFN IDOL
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2003
Posts
92,216
Reaction score
70,503
The early drafts of Sunshine were hands down - the greatest works of literature I've ever read in my life. I don't know how to describe them any other way than what seemed to be the greatest form of poetry within the bounds of a screenplay. Initially I liked the movie but didn't LOVE it because it couldn't possibly compare to what I had read AND because I had read it it wasn't as fresh to me. However, I seem to watch it every time it's on HBO now and I am falling as much in love with the actual movie as I did with the script all those years ago.

Adaptation has grown on me - as a writer I think it's hilarious and can identify with it and appreciate it more and more but it still doesn't compare with the emotional depth that those first couple drafts of Sunshine had when I read them 4 years ago.
 

thirty-two

boglehead
Supporting Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2003
Posts
26,992
Reaction score
3,990
Finally saw this. I adore Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I had read all your great reviews of this movie, but in the end I was just kind of like "eh."

I agree that the two brothers had their own personality. I like Chris Cooper in his role, too. I loved the line of "You are who you love."

Other than that, it's all very.... eh.
 

Bada0Bing

Don't Stop Believin'
Joined
Feb 19, 2004
Posts
7,714
Reaction score
963
Location
Goodyear
I loved this film. At first I was bored to tears, but then I just became engrossed in the film.

It was absolutely brilliant that when "his brother" started to write the screenplay was when the movie started to become an action flick. Absolutley Birlliant writing by Kaufman. He is something special.

One of my all time favorite movies. Great choice.
This was a great film to watch a second time. I was much more engrossed this time through. Brilliant film.
 

Latest posts

Staff online

Forum statistics

Threads
556,592
Posts
5,437,006
Members
6,330
Latest member
Trainwreck20
Top