Being John Malkovich

Review from Movies.com

A rather hirsute John Cusack stars as a down-on-his-luck New York City street puppeteer who is forced by lack of prospects and income to take an entry-level job as a file clerk on the seven and a halfth floor of an office building. Seven and a halfth? That's odd, certainly, but not half as odd as the passageway he discovers behind a file drawer one day that leads directly into the brain of actor John Malkovich (played by none other). Puppet boy and a vampish co-worker (Catherine Keener) on whom he develops an obsessive crush decide that this startling and serendipitous discovery presents a rather unique money- making opportunity, so they take out an ad in the newspaper and start charging respondents hundreds of dollars for the chance to enjoy their Warhol-ian 15 minutes of fame courtesy of Mr. Malkovich. Matters begin to get ever more complicated as the puppeteer, his wife (played by a seriously glammed-down Cameron Diaz), the co-worker, and Malkovich play out a rather convoluted round robin of sexual attraction within the arena of the actor's consciousness.

My take

This truly genre-defying Spike Jonze experiment is so weird on so many counts. The idea of controlling someone's life by getting into his mind just raises so many existential and ethical issues. In this convoluted story though, we just realise the tragic lengths people will go to prolong a fantastical life, at the expense of their own.