The December Challenge: Film #110

Adaptation is a self-indulgent, solipsistic and dizzying descent into the troubled craft of creation: specifically the creation of a screenplay adaptation based on an unfilmable non-fiction novel. Just thinking about the film makes my head spin as I try and unravel Charlie Kaufman’s creative processes. Anybody who has ever tried to create art knows how difficult and fraught with self doubt it can be but to turn those personal disappointments into a work of self-reflexive brilliance demonstrates a rare and special talent.

Kaufman takes his own genuine troubles adapting Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief and creates a film that not only captures the essence of the novel but also deconstructs the complexities of the writing…

Film #1 of Driver's A-Z Project

Charlie Kaufman: I've written myself into my screenplay.
Donald Kaufman: That's kind of weird, huh?

Yeah, kinda. Adaptation. works out in a funny old way. It works itself into itself and works its way out of itself and works its way back in where it came from. Which is back into itself. Some may even call it 'self-indulgent' and 'narcissistic'. In fact, the main character said that. About writing himself into the screenplay. The character that says this is the writer of the film itself. You could call it 'screenplayception'.

It works like this for the first two acts, until the third act where it bizarrely ventures into thriller territory. Kinda. And then it…

After my disappointment and sheer anger with Being John Malkovich, I was more cautious coming into my first viewing of Adaptation. The other turnoff is that I don't really care for Nic Cage in a lot of movies (let's face it, he's a whiny, arrogant jerk in the National Treasure movies), and I find Meryl Streep slightly overrated in recent years. (C'mon, she was fine in Julie and Julia, but Oscar nominee worthy? I don't think so.) But I was pretty optimistic going in. Then, that opening monologue came through my TV set, and I knew I was going to eat every minute of Adaptation up.

One of the first things that struck me is how much Kaufman's dialogue has…

"Sometimes this kind of story turns out to be something more. Some glimpse of life that expands like those Japanese paper balls you drop in water and they bloom in the flowers and the flower is so marvelous you can't believe there was a time that all you saw in front of you was a paper ball and a glass of water."

That pretty much sums up what I thought of this film the first time I saw it years ago. There was a time I saw a movie (or whatever the hell it is) and now I see a masterpiece.

On my first watch, I didn't have much of an opinion of it other than it was... "strange". I…

Trailer

I’m passionate about writing. From a very young age, I loved nothing more than putting pen to paper and scrawling out stories about a whole manner of themes and events. As a child I wrote about serial killers (I had an entire series planned, based on the Halloween films, called Surrogacy, in which a woman becomes a surrogate, gives the child away for money and then, years later, the messed-up child hunts her down and tries to kill her and her new family… yes, I was a fucked-up ten year old. I also had one called Birthday Boy which was exactly the same, except the child had died and been resurrected by demons or something. Definitely a weirdo...) and…

The two protagonists of this film are brothers, played by Nicolas Cage and... Nicolas Cage. And you know what? They were two totally different characters, you never really stopped to think, "Jesus, Nic Cage is talking to himself". Even though he does do that a lot, through narration which show his clustered and weird thoughts in his head and I thought that worked pretty well.

Nicolas Cage plays Charlie Kauffman (based off the writer of the film), who is writing a screenplay based on a novel by a writer named Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep). As we follow Charlie's struggle with adapting this novel, and his frustration with his brother Donald; we find out more and more about Susan through flashbacks,…

After my disappointment and sheer anger with Being John Malkovich, I was more cautious coming into my first viewing of Adaptation. The other turnoff is that I don't really care for Nic Cage in a lot of movies (let's face it, he's a whiny, arrogant jerk in the National Treasure movies), and I find Meryl Streep slightly overrated in recent years. (C'mon, she was fine in Julie and Julia, but Oscar nominee worthy? I don't think so.) But I was pretty optimistic going in. Then, that opening monologue came through my TV set, and I knew I was going to eat every minute of Adaptation up.

One of the first things that struck me is how much Kaufman's dialogue has…

“Today is the first day of the rest of my life.”

This is without a doubt one of the most screenplay driven movies. It’s funny, poignant, dark, thematic, and thought provoking. Like Cage says (as Charlie), “Anyone that says they have the ‘answers’ is full of bullshit”. Adaptation. never says it has the answer, but does offer intriguing ideas about life.

Life: life and the diversity within it is what Spike Jonze’s Adaptation. is all about. It’s a self-reflective piece that can easily relate to its audience. Everyone is driven in life by something. Some by their self-deprecation, others by a need to be accepted; but we’re all motivated. Even when we can’t find motivation, we’re motivated to find a…

Film #1 of Driver's A-Z Project

Charlie Kaufman: I've written myself into my screenplay.
Donald Kaufman: That's kind of weird, huh?

Yeah, kinda. Adaptation. works out in a funny old way. It works itself into itself and works its way out of itself and works its way back in where it came from. Which is back into itself. Some may even call it 'self-indulgent' and 'narcissistic'. In fact, the main character said that. About writing himself into the screenplay. The character that says this is the writer of the film itself. You could call it 'screenplayception'.

It works like this for the first two acts, until the third act where it bizarrely ventures into thriller territory. Kinda. And then it…