Cage's new movie captivates
2003-03-14 08:02
Cape Town - Once in a while a film comes along that sweeps you off your feet. Adaptation. is such a unique creation, brimming with a freshness that is intoxicating.
What makes a film truly original is distinctive choices of subject matter plus a unique shaping of the telling.
Director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman share an exceptional vision; they dissect the world of creators and allow audiences to have an intimate relationship with those who create. Their story is visualised in a particular style where fact and fiction merge to challenge and captivate.
They dazzled the world with the bizarre Being John Malkovich, and once again bombard the imagination with an enthralling tale.
A story is not only what you have to say but how you say it. It is especially how the story of Adaptation. is told that draws the audience into an exceptional cinematic experience.
Double take
The narrative has a remarkable duality: the main plot focuses on a gifted screenwriter who has to adapt Susan Orlean's best-selling non-fiction book The Orchid Thief into box-office gold; the subplot deals with Orlean's mission to write the book and her involvement with John Laroche, an adventurer who is obsessed with his love for rare orchids.
The gifted screenwriter has to adapt to the conventions of writing; in doing so he has to invent an unconventional 'twin brother' who guides him through the process. As played brilliantly by Nicholas Cage, the fictional and non-fictional writers are radically challenged by the forces of adaptation.
Meryl Streep delivers a stunning performance as Orlean, who has to - as a woman and a writer - adapt to new circumstances. Streep's character is featured mainly in the subplot, which also explores her obsession with Laroche (a stunning performance by Chris Cooper - remember him as the vengeful homophobe in American Beauty).
The story design of Adaptation. is innovative; the main and subplot are masterfully intertwined, driving the narrative to a powerful climax that is refreshingly unpredictable.
It could easily have been solely the story of Orlean's quest that leads her on a journey of self discovery, or the story of a writer suffering from writer's block. Thankfully it is not; the duality allows each story to feed off each other and push the dramatic exposition way past its limitations.
Potent imagination
The potent imagination of the filmmaker draws the audience into a remarkable experience; once we have adapted to the intriguing premise it is difficult to separate truth from fiction.
This is what filmmaking is all about and where the power of cinema lies; it suspends disbelief and takes the audience on a journey of self discovery.
The settings, characters and ideas are equally fresh.
Who would ever have thought of setting the emotional and physical conflicts of the characters in a swamp; where the hunters become the hunted, and the hunted victims of circumstance.
Additional characters contribute to the freshness: Brian Cox is marvellous as screenwriter guru Robert McKee, who has no mercy on aspirant writers; with Tilda Swinton delivering a great performance as the 'commissioning producer' who is surprisingly kind-hearted and not stereotypically cold and calculated.
Cinema's master storytellers - from Charlie Chaplin to Ingmar Bergman, from Satyajit Ray to Woody Allen - have always given us the double edged encounter we crave.
Jonze and Kaufman are equally brilliant storytellers; they allow us to discover a world we do not know, and as the real-life Robert Mc Kee states in his scriptwriting Bible 'Story', "The word of an eminent artist always strikes us as somewhat exotic or strange.
"Once inside this alien world, we find ourselves deep within the characters and their conflicts, and we discover our own humanity," says Mc Kee.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the character of Kaufman is his ability to slip into the realm of fantasy; it is here where he explores his sexuality and allows himself to be seduced by the object of his affection.
In one particular scene he is lying alone in his room and is mesmerised by the photograph of Orlean on the dustcover of her book. His desire allows Orlean to slither into his fantasy and make love to him. It is a powerful moment that we all desperately want to believe in.
Powerful forces
Kaufman is constantly ripped out of the fantasy by his own creation and his refusal to adapt, and is forced to face his failure as a lover and a writer. We too, experience this intrusion, and are constantly reminded of the fact that we are watching a film. We too, have to accept the constructed reality which offers escape to the characters.
Adaptation. is a radiant expose that explores the positive and negative attitudes adapting causes, and shows how powerful the forces of adaptation are.
Everything in the film is related to adapting and the changes it causes within the characters: a stubborn writer who refuses to adapt to the writing process and the Hollywood formula is thrown into a pit of despair; the writer's alter ego adapts to the 'system' and delivers box-office gold; a journalist who is bound by the conventions of marriage and her career adapts to the 'call of the wild'; a man who is imprisoned by a tragic past adapts to a future filled with romance and passion.
The changes the characters go through are equally remarkable: Kaufman literally kills off his alter ego and frees himself from his insecurities; Orlean breaks away from her pristine habits to explore her sexuality; and Laroche discovers his reasons for being an obsessive adventurer.
In the end we leave the cinema with not only a clear understanding of the forces of adaptation; within its magical realm lies the answers to all the problems that turns everyday life into a meaningless battlefield.
Adaptation. will convert those who firmly believe that a 'Hollywood' film cannot deliver a meaningful and thought provoking experience. It is also superb entertainment that challenges perceptions and allows the imagination to bloom.
You will want to see the film again, if only to understand why it has changed the way you will look at cinema in the future.
Go behind the scenes of Adaptation. and find out how the film was made: visit the website: www.gal.co.za/writingstudio, click 'on the big screen' and go to 'March releases'.