Being John Malkovich

This Spike Jonze directed, Charlie Kauffman written surrealist fantasy is a very good film, it deserves its fame, and but for a few touches it would be able to compete with Kauffman's masterpiece 'Eternal Sunshines'. The quality of it certainly makes one curious to see 'Adaption'.
John Cusack is not a sympathetic charcter but a fine played one, the John Malkovich character is probably the most engaging and curious of the bunch, Cameron Diaz is not a great actress but does a good job here. Keener and Bean do decent work.
The plotting is imaginative, wildly different from the mainstream, and finds itself in pleasingly obtuse corners that generally bring about emotional engagement. It is not so much well shot as the sets and screens are constructed well, the sense of atmosphere isn'y particularly all-encompassing but does have certain endearing recurrent motifs. The fact the strangeness of the plot doesn't descend into 'kookiness' should be applauded.
Perhaps it does run through it's labyrinth too quickly; stopping to reflect would maybe mean we wouldn't go along with the absurdity, but at the same time it may have made for a little more engagment. All the same, this is an intelligently written, very funny, and occasionally mvoving fine piece of film. Congratulations for the ability to pull off such a complex idea with clarity and real panache.