Movie Review #12

Adaptation (2002)
Directed by Spike Jonze
Written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman
Based on the novel "The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean

Rating: 6.50/10.00 or *** (out of 4)

So we begin several reviews from films presented in the year 2002. So far, I have been mostly disappointed with what I have seen. And what a great example to start off with: the latest collaboration between Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman entitled Adaptation.

To sum up my feelings of Adaptation, I would probably say that Adaptation's brilliance ensured its own demise. It's a film that tries to say too much and tries to be too clever in doing so. Unlike the brilliant Being John Malkovich, this film goes a bit too far in its inaccessibility, and the result is a film that looks entirely too chaotic to be intelligent and one that looks entirely too pretentious to be artistic.

The film stars Nicolas Cage as Charlie Kaufman and his fictitious twin brother Donald. While Donald is only interested in earning a buck, Charlie is interested in being innovative, artistic, well-regarded. Both are screenwriters with deadlines to meet. Donald has no problem taking the formulaic screenwriting protocol necessary in most Hollywood films today and producing his own. Charlie, meanwhile, wants to be a fresh face to look at in movies. He decides to adapt the novel by Susan Orlean entitled "The Orchid Thief" and make a movie out of it. However, he is having a terrible time trying to produce a movie out of the work, as it is full of descriptions of orchids but not full of human drama. So, Charlie has writer's block, and he basically is not getting anywhere with what he has.

Therefore, Charlie somehow puts himself into the movie that he is writing, explaining how he's trying to overcome this obstacle. Yes, the movie itself portrays how he is putting himself into the movie he's writing (Clever or not is the question.). Intertwined in all of this is the bits and pieces we see of Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her obsession with being passionate about something. She meets John Laroche (Chris Cooper), a man with a passion for orchids. Laroche is aesthetically unappealing, with missing teeth and a somewhat gruff personality, but his passion for orchids causes Orlean to become attracted to him.

The film has wonderful sequences showing Orlean's growing fascination to Laroche and his fascination. Voiceover work using Meryl Streep is engrossing. Orlean just needs to have a love for something. Haven't we all felt this way? When she describes Laroche's passion for orchids, I empathized with her. I know the feeling of not having a passion for something; it sometimes envelops oneself into a state of despair. That's what Orlean is in, and the most beautiful part of this film is showing Orlean's desparation.

Meanwhile, Charlie Kaufman finally has come to the point where he has to meet the author. Unfortunately, he is way too scared to do so (Contact with women in general is too difficult for this constantly nervous, persistently pessimistic man, as shown in isolated scenes through the film.). Donald helps him, therefore, and Charlie finally confronts (or, rather, is confronted) by Orlean and her now-love-interest Laroche. The film takes a drastic turn at this point (which I will not reveal here), and to me, the film just falls apart. Up to that point, I was accepting the twists and turns this film seemed to constantly display. However, the final twist, a subtle pan on Hollywood films and writing, causes this own film's downfall.

My major problem with the last twenty minutes of the film is that, even though it was purposefully humorous and off-beat, it does not fit with the feeling of the first 80% of the film. The first 80% of the film seemed slightly light-hearted, occasionally dramatic, almost psychologically insightful. Through all the shifts in the film up to that point, these feelings remained. And then in the last twenty minutes, the film becomes a sarcastic parody and was melodramatically adventurous (with that sarcastic tone). The shift in tone is what ruins this film (for me), and I became more disappointed with each passing second.

There are also times when the film seems a bit too prententious or self-serving. Take the example which many other reviewers have used in which Kaufman (in voiceover) is explaining how voiceover should not be used in film. Clever. Yeah. This tactic is used at the end of the movie too. Kaufman in voiceover explains how he was ending the movie as we were seeing the ending he was explaining. This didn't come across to me as clever at all. I felt the scene was just trying too hard to be clever.

In short, the film is just trying to do too much. It is overloaded with material that could be further developed in three (or more) different movies rather than in an inevitably uncontrollable single film. The movie proposes questions/issues regarding truth versus fiction, goals, passions, obsessions, self-confidence, and (of course) adaptation, both in the Darwinian sense and in the thematic sense. That's a lot to cover with any great depth or detail in one film.

There were several bright spots to the movie, however. Nicolas Cage gives his best acting performance since Bringing out the Dead in his double role of the Kaufman twins. I never had a problem distinguishing between them, even though they were identical in appearance. Brian Cox gives a memorable supporting performance as the screenwriting instructor Robert McKee, for which "both" Kaufmans are provided counsel. Tilda Swinton plays Kaufman's producer Valerie with a nice sense of urgency, constantly on his case about his lack of progress in his screenplay. Cooper and Streep, however, give the best performances. Streep, who never seems to have a bad performance, stole the screen whenever she was on it. Streep plays Orlean with a sense of recognizable despair. And Cooper is perfect as Laroche, an intelligent criminal intensely fixed on orchids and their mode of making him money.

There is a scene in which Orlean finally gets to see an orchid in the wild. She just stares at it and says, "It's just a flower." This beautifully constructed scene was very powerful with Streep's horribly disappointed voice. And just look at her face: the ultimate letdown. One more thing she can't feel passionate about.

Cinematography was also involving. I especially liked the scenes in the swamp; the swamp seemed eerie, somewhat ominous, and mysterious. Flashbacks to the beginnings of time were also well presented. Voiceover, a Jonze favorite, is also mostly unconflicting with the movie.

Jonze uses Kaufman's screenplay to use sets and actors from Being John Malkovich in cameo shots. John Malkovich, John Cusack, Catherine Keener, and Jonze himself all have small cameos in his film (Malkovich has a particularly memorable one.). These cameos served a purpose other than advertisement of previous films, something other directors should learn.

Adaptation is a highly flawed motion picture. It contains moments of brilliance, but it is surrounded by too much chaos (or, simply, just too much) to be labeled anything close to masterpiece material. Jonze has much potential, but this was a misstep in his approach to directing mastery.

Movie Review #11

Some Like It Hot (1959)
Directed by Billy Wilder
Screenplay by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond
Story by Robert Thoeren and M. Logan

Rating: 8.00/10.00 or *** 1/2 (out of 4)

Some Like It Hot is one of the rarities of comedic cinema. It combines several elements of comedy, and it gets away with it in style. This is my first, but definitely not last, Billy Wilder film. Wilder's extreme attention to detail, subtle yet bold ways of making a statement, and light sense of humor are a joy to watch on screen. This comedy classic would not have been nearly as good without the witty one-liners, the subtle sexually driven movements, the chase scenes that are beyond silly, and the bold and somewhat racy topics Wilder eases into. Or perhaps it was the light-hearted performances given by Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe that made this movie as humorous as could be. Whatever the case, this movie has such a hold over me that it will not be easily forgotten.

The movie stars Tony Curtis as Joe and Jack Lemmon as Jerry, two Chicago musicians who stumble into witnessing the St. Valentine's Day Massacre (Even writing out the story makes me chuckle.). So, Joe and Jerry flee to Florida dressed as women to hide from the murderers before they become the next victims. They flee to Florida dressed as women since they happened to learn that two musicians were needed for an all-women's orchestra in the Sunshine State. On the trip, we meet Sugar Kane (played by the awing Marilyn Monroe), the singer of the group. She desires wealth; Joe (now Josephine) only desires fulfilled lust. When Curtis meets Monroe, the chemistry just leaps off the screen. Immediately, Joe becomes attracted (and for a short time, Daphne also does (Jerry decides Daphne is a good woman name for him/her, by the way.)) to Sugar Kane.

However, Joe wins out, and much of the film involves Joe's plan to court the adorable singer. Joe decides to play the "Shell Oil heir" in a delightful parody of Cary Grant. Sugar Kane melts in his hands, and the audience melts in hers. At times through the movie, I somewhat lost myself just by staring at Monroe's odd sense of stealing the spotlight. Her acting isn't outstanding; in fact, many times she seems somewhat dumbfounded (not at all dissimilar to Monroe's real-life style). However, I just kept looking at her through the movie. And that's when the movie got me. For we realize rather quickly that the movie's real strength is in its bold way of going where few films of the time had gone. The movie was blatantly sexual, and yet it was completely innocent. Wilder gets away with it because he knows exactly in what way to do so. Wilder tantalizes his audience, and he succeeds admirably.

Curtis and Monroe exchange extremely intelligent lines throughout the film. Just watch the scene on the beach, the scenes in the yacht (which Joe could only steer backwards), and in the final scenes of the film. There are several classic one-liners. ("Real diamonds! They must be worth their weight in gold!") The dialogue is constantly fresh, never repetitive, always intelligent. And then there's the chemistry. Wilder is stepping on thin ice through the film, but the ice never breaks because of his subtle ways of stealing the audience's hearts. Wilder was a master of approaching the line but never stepping over it.

Meanwhile, Lemmon finds an attraction of her own, Osgood Fielding (Joe E. Brown), an older man who has a lot of spunk and a lot of lust toward Daphne. Jerry/Daphne, of course, is at first repulsed. However, soon after, Jerry/Daphne becomes interested, but not in the man. Fielding has money and lots of it. Hence, Jerry/Daphne sees this as a chance to earn big alimony payments after the all but sure deal of marriage and divorce soon after. Jerry/Daphne's plan is revealed to Joe/Josephine in a hilarious scene of laugh-out-loud zingers:

Jerry: I'm engaged!
Joe: Who's the lucky girl?
Jerry: I am!

Joe: You're not a girl! You're a guy! Why would a guy wanna marry a guy?
Jerry: Security!

Joe: What are you gonna do on your honeymoon?
Jerry: He wants to go to the Riviera but I kinda lean towards Niagara Falls.

The lines are funny in and of themselves, but the real humor is in their delivery. Serious light-heartedness is the key to this film's mastery of humor. Curtis and Lemmon are brilliant.

Soon, we find that the mobsters have found their way to Florida (for a meeting of sorts), and they quickly learn of Joe and Jerry and their scheme of hiding. Then we witness the most off-the-wall narrow corridor chases and mobster shootouts. All of the comedic tricks are observed: mazing through the halls, hiding under tables, popping out of a cake with gun in hand, etc. The chase scene is both exhilarating and humorous. It has the perfect touch of both, and the result is the most satisfying part of the motion picture.

The result is the famous yacht scene that concludes the film. Both Sugar Kane and Fielding learn of Joe and Jerry's plan, but NEITHER of them care. And that's the point. Why should they care? They both have what they want, and in a way, so do Joe and Jerry. And the closing lines of the film, given by Lemmon and Brown, are the icing on the cake. This is one of the best scenes of closing dialogue I have ever observed. If you haven't seen this movie, you MUST see it for this brilliantly planned and perfectly executed closer.

Wilder's film is extremely racy for its time. It was a daring and bold statement of sexuality, and there is a marked difference between this film and most others. It's bold because it's tantalizing and not revealing. You can show all the nudity in the world, and you still will probably not hit the mark of attractive sexuality. This film, however, easily finds its mark because it doesn't reveal anything. Modern films should learn from this one.

Some Like It Hot is the perfect mix of silliness, adrenaline pumps, humorous dialogue, bold sexuality, and well-developed storylines. The result is a completely satisfactory movie experience.