SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: Week 175 - Being John Malkovich

[Tufts]

I truly enjoyed rewatching this movie. It was funnier than I remembered. It also struck me as a perfect movie club movie. Lots to unpack!

Puppets are creepy but wow, I had forgotten how awesome they also were. Were the puppet scenes authentic? I guess so. This was pre-CGI. The movements were so subtle and so human. I was simultaneously creeped out and totally fascinated. Their dang faces seemed to have expressions. And how did he close their eyes?

While I'm glad they changed the ending, I think a puppet battle scene could have been epic!

It seems like he could be a puppet teacher.... You know what they say about those who can't do!

It was amusing watching his resentment over the one famous puppeteer: There’s only room for one puppeteer Made me think this is how magicians must have felt about David Copperfield.

How in the worlds are the puppets banging? LOLZ! Craig is the Barton Fink of puppeteers telling the story to the common puppet! Loved the dad just beating him! You can't even trust a street puppet show anymore!

And while puppets in general are creepy, then you make them religious as well.....what?! So over the top! I would have punched him too!

I love how this movie just embraces absurdity, It definitely lives in the world of magical realism. 7 1/2 floor is just completely ludicrous. Very Harry Potter!

True story - I lived in a house that was 821 1/2 when I lived in Loveland, Colorado. It was literally a house they squeezed between two other houses.

Love the receptionist with the hearing impediment. Love that she butchered his name and then Lester used the wrong name. Love that she convinced Lester that he had a speech impediment. It was both horrifying and funny as fuck as he lived in his isolated tower of indecipherable speech!



Lots of witty comments thrown in to this movie like The overhead is low.

I never thought I would say this, but Craig and Lottie's home makes @Cubo de Sangre and my home seem civilized! We only have five animals! I sure would enjoy having a chimpanzee. Don't need any birds though. I'd rather watch them fly around outside.

Great pick up line. This would actually make me laugh, and if I laugh, I don't want to punch the person, so it is a win, win: Maybe you could alphabetize me. And don't forget I comes before U.

OMG! So NSFW but Lester's telling of his sexual exploits at Jerry’s Juiciteria was hilarious. Oh to have been sitting at the next table and have overheard that convo!

So Maxine is my new spirit animal! I loved everything about her character. For being as smart as she was, I couldn't believe the name thing worked and he guessed her name. I love how deadpan her expression was when she said: Im dubious but I don't welch. Followed by the cheekiness of this exchange:
Maxine: Are you married?
Craig: Yeah, but enough about me

And then this one slayed me.
Craig: I'm a puppeteer
Maxine: Check

Then he went home and worked out his angst with the puppets. So freaking creepy!

Would you like to be inside my skin. See what I see. Feel what I feel. Think what I think is the central thesis of this film. Craig repeated this later to Maxine, and her response was: Yikes! I love how real and grounded and openly superficial she is. I think it is meaningful that she never went into JM. She bought into what was happening right away, monetized it, worked the business but never tasted the goods. Made me wonder why?

The following dialogue is worth noting:

Maxine: Why do you like to be a puppeteer?
Craig: It gives me a chance to be someone else.

Maxine turns him down when she says: You play with dolls

And then finally this brutal exchange:
Craig: I feel like we belong together
Maxine: Awwww

I was amused by the sound effects when Craig first went inside JM's head. Made me realize how loud it would be listening to the body's biological functions. I loved how mundane JM's life was. What does it say that people were so desperate to have a different experience that they would be entertained watching him order towels? It is such an interesting take on escapism.

It is hilariously appropriate that JM IRL would wonder what he might have done in the past to have pissed Kaufman off when he first read the script. They took the piss out of him in the movie. Between his boring life, his pretentiousness, his encounters with fans who couldn't name one of his movies and insisted that he had been in films he had not made, all of the Malkovitches, his subconscious full of his awkward childhood sexually inappropriate behavior, his wacky interpretive dance, to him loosing his identity completely....it was brutal. I would think an actor would have to incredibly unselfconscious to play this role. It is funny coz the movie is all about becoming JM, while poor JM looses himself and ceases to exist at the end of it.

And then there were all the little sharp barbs. Bad enough the driver makes up a film, but then makes JM think of who the actor really was. So much insult in this attempt to compliment: I thought you were alright in that one movie! The jewel thief. Oh it's not you, who am I thinking of?

I did wonder what they got covered in when they were inside JM. It looked pretty gross. His car must be completely trashed.

There was one beautiful shot of the twin towers as Craig was picking up a client. I noticed it right away and mentioned it to @Cubo de Sangre, who then pointed out that we were watching on 9/11. It was a bit of a heavy moment.

More Maxine being self centered. Boy do I admire her commitment to doing exactly what the fuck she wants. She just sets a whole new standard for confidence!
JM: Did you call me Lotte?
Maxine: Do you mind?

And this exchange between Craig and his wife:
Lotte: We love her Craig! You have the Maxine action figure to play with.

And then we have Charlie Sheen. OMG. That guy! He brought a hooker to Thanksgiving dinner with his ex Denise Richards. When Denise found out he had left the poor gal in the car, she went out and invited her in. Now that is a classy hostess! Best lines Charlie delivered was: You're nuts to let a girl go who calls you Lottie. Sounds like my kind of girl, let me know when you’re done with her. I mean who wouldn't be interested in hot lesbian witches.

Highly entertained by the evil amusement on Maxine's face as JM climbs into his own head. Nobody knows what will happen, but Maxine is gleeful to find out. She is so cruel. I love it!

The Malkovitch Malkovitch scene is a total favourite! I thought I saw Ruth Bader Malkovitch





It is either her or a little girl Malkovitch, I guess. I like that none of the Malkovitches had any hair!

Who was your favorite Malkovitch? Mine was probably the singer on the piano.

More nonsensical but clever dialogue with a severely dark undercurrent:

JM: I'll see you in court
Craig: What makes you think I won’t be seeing what you are seeing in court?

My own thoughts at this point: Dude you really need to let your wife out of the cage!

Wondering if the chimp's name, Elijah, has any deeper meaning. @MusterX? I loved his redemption arc!!!



I was a little worried he was going to loose his shit and attack her in a bout of PTSD. Was very happy that did not happen. Strangely nobody actually gets hurt in this film, except for JM and then Craig at the end.

JM dancing was amazing! Such a self deprecating actor willing to leave it all on the stage. I would have loved to have seen Craig's puppet dance of despair performed by a possessed JM in a parallel side by side shot with the puppet dance from the start of the film. I also loved how this brought the story full circle.

A true measure of Maxine's darkness and selfishness is when she tells Craig that noone would ever need to know that he was controlling JM.

So many layers in this film. Craig is a puppeteer, controlling the body he inhabits while controlling his puppets.

Little Johnny Malkopeep!

It would be interesting to have a conversation about consent in this film. Clearly JM never gave consent to his possession. You also have Maxine who is essentially abusing Jm, getting abused herself when she thinks she is banging Lotte and it is actualIy Craig. You have Lottie getting locked up with Elijah against her will. It is a tangled web of abuse that culminates in Maxine telling Lotte: I kept it coz I knew you were the father. It is super interesting to me that Maxine would see the baby as belonging to the spirit inhabiting the body. Either that, or it was an easy way to manipulate and get Lottie back.

Poor JM gets to be free for a hot minute. Loved his splintered reflection in the poster as the various people were climbing into his portal.

And in the end, Craig clearly gets his comeuppance when he gets stuck in the little girl's subconscious.

What a crazy original fun film. Holy smokes!

 

[gondo]

I suggest you look into the BTS clips on the beer can to the back of the head scene. It was totally improvised by the extra and he got fired for it.

 

[Tufts]

It's the one and only year that pops into my mind.

When I sent in my nominations, 1999 was the theme. I included the Prince song. I think it got lost in translation though.

Great fuckin' subtle humor right there. Had to point that out to @Tufts when it went down. Almost rewound for it.

She is ICE COLD and I love it! Her confidence and focus on herself is something else.

 

[minute bull]

Maybe the reason why he's arguably outlasted his contemporises like Michel Gondry(although I admit I'v not seen his more recent stuff) when it comes to still putting out high concept films like Her.

Whom else do you consider Jonze's contemporaries?

Compared to Gondry, it's easy to see that while Jonze is definitely absurd -- his stories are both accessible in structure and sympathetic in theme and emotional core. Gondry succeeded with ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF A SPOTLESS MIND, another Kaufman vehicle, but I would venture to say his other work simply isn't as emotionally gripping compared to its lunacy. Weirdness for weirdness' sake.

I also tend to think Jonze might simply be easier to work with. He's got a sort of affect you can't help but be sort of taken by.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Puppets are creepy but wow, I had forgotten how awesome they also were. Were the puppet scenes authentic? I guess so. This was pre-CGI. The movements were so subtle and so human. I was simultaneously creeped out and totally fascinated. Their dang faces seemed to have expressions. And how did he close their eyes?

While easy to laugh at, it's still crazy impressive.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Would you like to be inside my skin. See what I see. Feel what I feel. Think what I think is the central thesis of this film. Craig repeated this later to Maxine, and her response was: Yikes! I love how real and grounded and openly superficial she is. I think it is meaningful that she never went into JM. She bought into what was happening right away, monetized it, worked the business but never tasted the goods. Made me wonder why?

Good observation. I think it jives with her being supremely confident and happy with herself. She didn't feel the need to escape from being a hot chick who had both sexes hitting on her.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

It is hilariously appropriate that JM IRL would wonder what he might have done in the past to have pissed Kaufman off when he first read the script. They took the piss out of him in the movie. Between his boring life, his pretentiousness, his encounters with fans who couldn't name one of his movies and insisted that he had been in films he had not made, all of the Malkovitches, his subconscious full of his awkward childhood sexually inappropriate behavior, his wacky interpretive dance, to him loosing his identity completely....it was brutal. I would think an actor would have to incredibly unselfconscious to play this role. It is funny coz the movie is all about becoming JM, while poor JM looses himself and ceases to exist at the end of it.

When you add it up, lol. Especially this one.

Little Johnny Malkopeep!

And the panty-sniffing! Just brutal.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Who was your favorite Malkovitch? Mine was probably the singer on the piano.

Good question. Gotta go with piano man too. It got the biggest hoot.

 

[chickenluver]

This was a strange one.

The first and only time I had seen this previously was 10 or more years ago. I had never seen Malkovich in anything and in fact had never even heard of him. The whole concept is much funnier after having seen some other Malkovich films. Really I hadn't remembered the movie as a whole being as funny as I found it this time. I laughed aloud consistently through the run time. Lots of little things were the funniest to me, such as when Cusack tells the old boss his name is Schwartz not Juarez, and old guy immediately starts calling for security, the line "If I was 80 years younger I'd box your ears,"and when Cusack is telling Maxine about how puppetry is all about "getting inside someone else's skin," and she responds simply with "yikes." I also laughed pretty much every time someone was expelled from Malkovich and they seemed to drop right out of the sky onto the side of a highway.

Not sure I can think of another movie that gives an animal a flashback. At least not when it's just an animal side character, probably some movies with animals as the main cast with a flashback or two.

So did the separate consciousnesses of the group of elderly people all merge into one? At the end it seems like old guy's personality in Malkovich. If their minds didn't meld seems like they'd be trapped just like Cusack. Is that a fate worse than death? I have no idea.

I really like John Cusack's performance in this movie. He's so weird, desperate and pathetic. Malkovich as well does a great job when he has to act like the Cusack character. He gets the hyper, nervous speech pattern down perfectly.

Cusack was a total asshole and I was never really on his side. He was somewhat sympathetic early, but he went over the top when he started pulling guns on his wife Lotte and locking her in a chimp cage. Despite that, I still felt bad for him when he actually did finally leave Malkovich because he thought Maxine would be killed, only for it to have been pointless, and her not giving a fuck. Pretty dark ending as well. I guess Cusack was prepared to imprison Malkovich forever, so becoming trapped forever himself is fair punishment. I wonder if he'll die when the girl dies, or if his trapped consciousness with forever move on the the next vessel.

Also, it's funny that Malkovich is not credited on the poster.

I don't know if y'all know, but the original ending is super-different, and doesn't at all involve that wonderful chase sequence through Malkovich's mind.

Instead Craig-as-Malkovich's puppeteer career veers to the sheer top-tier, whereupon another sneering puppeteer master and he duel with giant puppets under the veneer of a televised performance showdown. Added to this the ship captain who created that half a floor for an accursed kind is revealed to be none other than the devil; he's in league with Craig's enemy, trying to purge Craig from Malkovich. Also, Elijah the monkey plays a more prominent role and, no shit, he and Lotte get married and become king and queen of some ludicrous bullshit. Real blow-the-doors-off third act.

haha I'm glad we got the ending we did instead of this.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

It would be interesting to have a conversation about consent in this film. Clearly JM never gave consent to his possession. You also have Maxine who is essentially abusing Jm, getting abused herself when she thinks she is banging Lotte and it is actualIy Craig. You have Lottie getting locked up with Elijah against her will. It is a tangled web of abuse that culminates in Maxine telling Lotte: I kept it coz I knew you were the father. It is super interesting to me that Maxine would see the baby as belonging to the spirit inhabiting the body. Either that, or it was an easy way to manipulate and get Lottie back.

The film steered clear of ethics, which helps the dark humor succeed. Everybody was just out to get theirs'.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Not sure I can think of another movie that gives an animal a flashback.

Ha! Totally necessary though. How else are we supposed to believe that chimp can untie a knot?

So did the separate consciousnesses of the group of elderly people all merge into one? At the end it seems like old guy's personality in Malkovich. If their minds didn't meld seems like they'd be trapped just like Cusack. Is that a fate worse than death? I have no idea.

Great questions. Can they communicate with each other? Maybe hang out in JM's subconscious crib and drink mimosas?

I guess Cusack was prepared to imprison Malkovich forever, so becoming trapped forever himself is fair punishment.

Justice indeed.

 

[Tufts]

Not sure I can think of another movie that gives an animal a flashback. At least not when it's just an animal side character, probably some movies with animals as the main cast with a flashback or two.

This was so over the top. It made me so so happy! Yay Elijah!!!!

 

[Tufts]

So did the separate consciousnesses of the group of elderly people all merge into one? At the end it seems like old guy's personality in Malkovich. If their minds didn't meld seems like they'd be trapped just like Cusack. Is that a fate worse than death? I have no idea.

I wondered about this. It is probably the one plot hole I see in the film. I think they could have fleshed this out a little more.

 

[Tufts]

I really like John Cusack's performance in this movie. He's so weird, desperate and pathetic.

I love this about both Lotte and Craig's roles. In both cases the superficial physical beauty of the actors is subdued to the point where they are not recognizable. I completely forgot Diaz was playing Lotte and frequently found myself forgetting that Cusack was Craig.

 

[minute bull]

I wondered about this. It is probably the one plot hole I see in the film. I think they could have fleshed this out a little more.

I don't think they meld into one but work in tandem. The Malkovich vessel at the end isn't frustrated (sexually or otherwise) like Dr. Lester is, leading me to believe there are more soothing influences in there.

Not sure I can think of another movie that gives an animal a flashback. At least not when it's just an animal side character, probably some movies with animals as the main cast with a flashback or two.

 

[Tufts]

The film steered clear of ethics, which helps the dark humor succeed. Everybody was just out to get theirs'.

It definitely made it palatable!

 

[Tufts]

Great questions. Can they communicate with each other? Maybe hang out in JM's subconscious crib and drink mimosas?

 

[chickenluver]

And while puppets in general are creepy, then you make them religious as well.....what?! So over the top! I would have punched him too!

That's actually a real life story. Heloise and Abelard. They had a tragic love affair which ended with her becoming a nun and him becoming a monk (he also got castrated) Their translated letters to each other are available to read. Quite a strange choice of subject matter for a puppet show.

I did wonder what they got covered in when they were inside JM. It looked pretty gross. His car must be completely trashed.

It looked like what ever was in the tunnel. Mud I guess? A few times the characters noticed it right before being pulled all the way through.

And this exchange between Craig and his wife:
Lotte: We love her Craig! You have the Maxine action figure to play with.

I laughed when she looked remorseful and said "sorry, that was nasty."

Who was your favorite Malkovitch? Mine was probably the singer on the piano.

Mine too. That whole scene made me laugh hysterically, but the best moment was the song itself consisting of only the word Malkovich articulated in different ways, and the absurdity of the singer laying over the piano with Malkovich's head.

 

[chickenluver]

There's a line in the film about Malkovich being the 2nd choice

That was one of the funniest lines for me. Guy asks if he can be anyone he wants, they say nope only John Malkovich, and he's ever so slightly disappointed but still excited because of all the people int the entire world Malkovich was his second choice.

Ha! Totally necessary though. How else are we supposed to believe that chimp can untie a knot?

It's perfect. Funny and weird, but also progresses the plot and provides character backstory.

I love this about both Lotte and Craig's roles. In both cases the superficial physical beauty of the actors is subdued to the point where they are not recognizable. I completely forgot Diaz was playing Lotte and frequently found myself forgetting that Cusack was Craig.

For sure. Diaz still has a pretty face, but the hair, wardrobe and overall performance make it easy to believe she's a weirdo.

Nice, forgot all about that.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

I don't think they meld into one but work in tandem. The Malkovich vessel at the end isn't frustrated (sexually or otherwise) like Dr. Lester is, leading me to believe there are more soothing influences in there.

How do we know that about the frustration?