Harry here... Could this be true? Is the Russian Black Market so advance that they were able to get a telecine video copy of Spike Jonze's ADAPTATION, which must be a profoundly rough assembly print at this stage, without finished effects, finished music or even the final edit? I ask this only because I can't believe that the Russian Mob is that adept, but I suppose it wouldn't be too surprising, just horrifying. Personally I can't imagine watching a hidieous print of a Spike Jonze film... Spike's BEING JOHN MALKOVICH was a masterpiece of surrealist filmmaking and ADAPTATION is one of the best scripts I've read period. Charlie Kaufman's screenplay.... I can't even imagine how great Spike has made it spring to life... Or at least I hope so. I suppose I take warmth from hearing how entertaining it seems to be even in the worst screening possibilities.... Here's the report...
Hi, Harry.
This is my first time writing, cause I never had anything interesting to write about. If it was five years ago, I would have a lot to write about. I was living in Moscow, Russia at the time, and they have an incredible pirate video industry there. I remember watching "Ransom" and "Donnie Brasco" months before release in US. Personal record, "Waterworld" which I saw in September of 1994, although in the slightly different version, without any music, dubbed, and with few extra scenes, among which was one with Jeanne Tripplehorn full frontal nude shot at Costner's boat.
Anyway, since I came to US, there is no more piracy, at least not as advanced as it is in Russia. However, I just came back from visit from Moscow, and I attended video rental store there, looking for something unusual.
One thing I found on the shelf, was a film called "Perevod" which means "translation" in Russian. It listed Nicolas cage and John Malkovich starring. Naturally, I thought it was Con Air, and title didn't change my mind, cause they are known to put whole lotta shit as the film's title or credits.
Then, I realized, that "Translation" could mean "Adaptation". And the fact that they listed Malkovich, meant that they read something like "From the director of Being John Malkovich" or something like that. So, I rented it, and it was Adaptation, by Spike Jonze. Now, the version was horrible. It wasn't taped from the screen, like most pirated versions. But it also didn't have any music, and had some weird subtitles, like "change of color" and "insert", whatever the hell that means ( i am guessing some sort of editing instructions). Annoying voice, was translating it from English, and overall quality of the film was terrible. But I have an opinion of the film, anyway.
Putting it shortly, I thought it was great. If I don't sound ecstatic, it's cause I rarely am, describing a film. Especially after watching it for the first time. I won't go into details of the plot, everyone knows them. Just gonna mention one scene, nobody else mentioned *SPOILER* When Stanley and Donald Kauffman, meet Nicolas Cage to talk to him about the character, that was incredible!
Now, the problem with today's film industry, as I see it, are the critics. I imagine a lot of people not liking Adaptation, saying it's too much like "Malkovich". I think it's ridiculous. American directors just can't cut a break, they are under incredible pressure to deliver not a good movie, but an "event" movie. And I am not talking about commercial directors only. When Magnolia came out, it was treated as disappointment, because it didn't deliver right there and then, even though now many consider it one of the best films of the 90's now. Overhyped and overkilled with information, media requests directors to preform magic tricks instead of cinema. We get so bored with everything so quickly, we abandon directors who made great movies after they stumbled couple of times like Tarantino, or Jarmusch, or made films that were reminiscent of their previous, like PTA or Lynch. I am wondering, was anyone telling Bertolucci when he was making Last Tango in Paris: "You already made psycho-sexual sado-masochistic love story before, maybe you should do something else." Or to Orson Welles before "Touch of Evil": "yeah, you lost it man, last great films you did came out 18 years ago. It's ridiculous. But enought about this.
Adaptation is great for the same reason Malkovich was. Jonze takes Kauffman's overwrought screenplay, and approaches it with great simplicity. Conversations between Donald and Kauffman reminded me of conversation between Sheen and Malkovich. They are directed with the same mix of warmth and cynicism. cage playing two roles, plus himself, delivers his best performance since Leaving Las Vegas, which doesn't say much, but it is good, really good.
Like Pacino, his weakest point is overacting, but here he gets back to his roots, and delivers very quiet performance, even playing arrogant Donald. Meryl Streep, for the first time in years, joins a project that is really creative, and it shows, she doesn't sleepwal through the films, she really acts, without doing cheesy accent. watching her, I was reminded that she was my favorite actress at one point, especially after watching Deer Hunter. Chris Cooper was the best thing about American Beauty, and here he holds his own against Cage and Streep.
Jonze uses hand held camera a lot, and it helps as an antidote to some really whacky scenes, even though the portion of the "Orchid Thief" is shot more traditionally, sometimes reminding of music videos, (which is my only complaint about the films).
Like I said, it's possible people won't like it, only because they will walk into the theatre prejudiced against Jonze, thinking he can't repeat success of Malkovich and looking for the weak spots. This really sucks, because Adaptation is a great film, it's a great companion to Being John Malkovich, and to whatever the next film Jonze will do (I hope Benjamin Button)
