Plot
Tasked with adapting a book about flowers into a film, the writer of Being John Malkovich must venture on a journey of both mind and body to find what makes the flower book so interesting. All this, while dealing with an annoying twin brother who wants to become a screenwriter just like him.
Pros
The thing that makes this movie interesting is Nicolas Cage and the fact that he had great chemistry with himself. Now that makes little sense, but what I mean is that Mr. Cage gave not one, but two believable performance in a film that is often times just him talking to his brother, which was played by him. The movie is pretty quirky, just as quirky as Being John Malkovich, which does the movie well. The supporting cast also does a pretty good job. The story of writing the screenplay was very interesting, though Cage’s performance did carry it past the boring parts.
Cons
The parts on how the story came to be written were a bit more boring than the other parts of the film and they weren’t lucky enough to have power house performances to carry them. While just as quirky as Malkovich, this one still fails to live up to what Jonze created with that film.
Fun Fact: Donald Kaufman was credited for co-writing the film and was nominated for an Academy Award, making him the first fictitious character to be nominated for an Academy Award.
Loved the fun fact on this one. The ending killed this one for me, though.
I know what you mean about the ending.
Ah, for me the ending is perfect! I guess that I can see why some would not like it though…
I liked the concept of the ending, but I just didn’t like the execution.
Fair enough, I’m a fan all the way to that final time-lapse shot. It also struck me as more emotional than I was expecting it to be, I mean it’s not Schindler’s List or anything but still.
I didn’t like the last swamp scene, but everything after that was pretty good, especially the time-lapse shot and inner monologue.
Loved the hell out of this movie and one of the main reasons why people still have faith in Cage as an actor. Myself included. Good review Austin.
Yeah, if only Cage did a movie like this again, one that actually took perpetration. I miss the younger Nicolas Cage.
I love this film, and you’re right that Cage has good chemistry with himself!
Yeah, that kind of chemistry can only be gained after spending years with the other person. Which is probably why it worked out so well.
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