🎬 #112 From Skater to Oscar Winner.
The name Spike Jonze makes me happy. The adopted name of Adam Spiegel. At 17, he started shooting skate photography which defined the look of skateboarding for a generation. Then he moved on to shooting skate films - the idea of following a skateboarder between tricks with a low angle fisheye lens, that look was largely defined by him. Adding in sketches and bits amongst the skating, also a uniquely Spike touch. From there, he moved to music videos and commercials then to feature films. But he never lost his roots as a let's just try and get away with it, punk rock kid. The energy he brings to the projects he works on is uniquely his. No one else is like Spike.
Happy choosing, happy viewing
Bry
FILM ONE: ADAPTATION
2002 Dir Spike Jonze
[1hr 55 mins]
Like the other film I’m recommending this week, the premise of this one is a showstopper. It’s a film about the attempt to adapt a book into a film. Where the film is the adaptation. Kind of. Nic Cage plays twin brothers - Charlie and Donald Kaufman, one of which is the screenwriter of the film itself. The tag line of the film sums up the meta-ness of the project - ‘From the creator of Being John Malkovich, comes the story about the creator of Being John Malkovich.’ Charlie’s awkward screenwriter, inept in all things love related, make his latest project - adapting The Orchid Thief - all the more challenging.
So, at various points we’re witnessing the ordeals Charlie is going through try to write the film that he’s writing and we’re also seeing the film that he’s writing play out, and then a combination of the two world’s clashing together. Spike handles the complexity with disgustingly talented ease, it’s hilarious, odd, weird and brilliant. The strength of the premise is delivered on with excellent performances. From the vulnerable sweaty awkwardness of Charlie, to the devil may care easy charm of his twin brother Donald. Chris Cooper’s Orchid Hunter and Meryl Streep as the author all make these characters feel tactile, flawed and engaging. It’s off the wall approach doesn’t take away from the poignancy of the emotional journey the filmmakers take us on. It’s such a joy to see it unfold.
TL;DR Jonze re-teams with Kaufman for their follow-up to Being John Malkovich - which takes us behind the scenes of the difficulties involved in adapting a book into a film.
*Available for a small rental fee on Amazon, Apple, Google and YouTube in the US and the UK.
Fact: The three main stars of Con Air - all appear in this film, Nic Cage, Malkovich and John Cusack.
FILM TWO: BEING JOHN MALKOVICH
1999 Dir Spike Jonze
[1hr 53 mins]
The wilder, younger brother to Adaptation is Jonze’s first feature film. It follows John Cusack’s struggling puppeteer as he gets an office job - but somehow discovers a portal to the inside of John Malkovich’s head behind a filling cabinet. As you do. It’s bold, funny - off the wall stuff. But again the magic is in the character’s emotional journey. The energy with which Jonze tells the story bears all the hallmarks of his work in music videos and commercials. It feels raw and real - it’s absurdist but down to earth. It has that special gleam of magic about it, where the everyday lives alongside the extraordinary.
Even within the tight concept, Jonze has that great way of handling things with a free-flowing energy, it feels fun, the vibe of the making of the thing infused into the product itself. It’s rock and roll - like the kids took over the set. It’s the kind of film that A24 would make these days, but these are the films that started it all. Audacious concepts brought to life in an audacious way. Enjoy the ride and become someone else for a bit longer than 15 minutes.
TL;DR Jonze’s first feature is described as a comedy, drama and fantasy, and packs all the mad punch of his work up to that point.
*Available for a small rental fee on Apple, Amazon, Google and YouTube in the US
and the UK.
Fact: When they were trying to get the film made, Jonze was shopping it around Hollywood and one producer asked if they could rewrite it as Being Tom Cruise - even Malkovich himself suggested the idea.