Adaptation film review

certificate_15

ADAPTATION

Films about the process of film-making are nothing new, and indeed the whole cultural understanding of film-making has become so much more elevated that even popcorn movies such as the Scream series can throw in references to mise-en-scene and auterism. While these films are usually entertaining - audiences are always fascinated by the breakdown of the cinematic process - it is a subject that has had more than its fair share of movies devoted to it.

What a relief then to come across Adaptation, a film that may well be unlike any other movie in history. Except perhaps Being John Malkovich, which is where Adaptation actually begins, with the actual writer of BJM, Charlie Kaufman (Cage) hanging dismally around the set of his own movie and undergoing a serious crisis of confidence.

Charlie is upset because he is convinced he is worthless. Fat, balding, sweaty and talentless. What's more, he is struggling to make any progress on his next screenplay, an adaptation of the book The Orchid Thief by New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean. To make matters worse, while Charlie sits at home in front of a blank screen, his dorky twin brother Donald (also played by Cage) decides that he wants to become a screenwriter too, and promptly devises a ludicrous plot for a thriller that, he insists, conforms to all of the necessary principles of good screenwriting.

This saga of an uninspired writer is cross-cut with the story of Susan Orlean (Streep) and her own attempts to write her book. Inspired after meeting John Laroche, a renowned but clearly obsessed horticulturalist (played by an unrecognisable Chris Cooper), Orlean becomes a little obsessive herself about the flower man. Back in Hollywood, Charlie obsesses about Susan the writer - and wonders if he should meet her.

A written review can do little justice to the joy of actually seeing this film. Director Spike Jonze and Kaufman have revitalised the logic of storytelling to a degree that will be talked about - and undoubtedly mimicked - for years to come. What's more, they don't pander to the converted: this is easily accessible stuff. Just as Jonze's video for Fatboy Slim's Praise You made it impossible to take your eyes away from the television for three minutes, this is a film that grabs you early on and proves giddily addictive.