| ADAPTATION |
| Starring Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Cara Seymour, Tilda Swinton Directed by Spike Jonze *** out of **** Here is a film so clever, so incessantly self-reflective and so skeptic about Hollywood that when the final third of the film kicks in you cannot help but feel somehow done in. The setup promises more than it delivers; the first two-thirds of the film are the work of genius (the genius of course being Charlie Kaufman) and then in the final act, everything sorts of ends up in the swamp. Like its forerunner Being John Malkovich, this film could�ve blown your socks off but settles, in the end, to roughly untie your shoelaces. Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) refers to himself as fat, bald and going nowhere. His brother Donald (also Cage) shares a house with him, and has much better social skills. Charlie is working on adapting real-life writer Susan Orlean�s �The Orchid Thief� into a screenplay, but struggles intensely with it. Donald, on the other hand, has great fun with his own pet project, a serial killer film with a �great twist ending�. This is one narrative line in the film. The second concerns Orlean�s (Meryl Streep) interest in the subject of John Laroche (Chris Cooper), orchid thief and passionate plant lover. Charlie cannot bring himself to write a clich�d story with car chases and sex scenes, and at one point decides to write about Charlie Kaufman struggling to adapt Susan Orlean�s novel �The Orchid Life�, which happened to the actual Charlie Kaufman. Adaptation is nominated for a best original screenplay Oscar, and is considered a shoe-in by many. Truly, it is a highly original work: Spike Jonze directs it with visual flair and an empathy for all his characters, whether they have front teeth or not. But apart from Kaufman and Jonze�s considerable influence on the final product, this film is all about acting. Cage (putting Windtalkers and other failures behind him) gives his best performance since Leaving Las Vegas. Hell, Jean-Claude van Damme has played twins twice, so it can�t be that hard. But Damme-boy did it while blowing things up; Cage here can only turn to his own abilities to provide life for both brothers, which he does with award-worthy skill. Chris Cooper�s Laroche is a kind of redneck plant poacher, and the role shows Cooper�s wide range (he played the militaristic dad in American Beauty). He makes Laroche more than a curiosity. Finally, Streep, an actress whose abilities are very overrated. In Adaptation she throws her usual pretentious pondering overboard and delivers a solid turn as woman caught in a �dead life� and wanting more. Adaptation blurs the lines between fiction and reality more than any other film I can currently recall. Kaufman deserves praise for turning a personal dilemma into a merit-worthy motion picture that demands two hours of undivided attention. Not because it�s confusing (although it may be to some), but because the characters and their stories captivate. Then why, if things were going so well, did it end the way it did? I have no problem with the aftermath of the given events, but it feels as if Kaufman tried to make the finale audience friendly. The intellectual bravery makes place for a pedestrian effort. In any other film it wouldn�t have bothered me so much, but with Adaptation it scratches at my eye. The pay-off just isn�t justified. The film has a cameo appearance by Darwin and a beautiful concept of love from the heart of Laroche. It is necessary to see it to talk about it (and you�re going to have to talk about it) and to witness some great acting. I for one, however, hope that Kaufman doesn�t pocket that golden boy just yet. COPYRIGHT 2003 CW Broodryk |
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