Being John Malkovich Team 2
Philippe
Benoit, Marianne Poulin, Dylan Wilkes, Gabrien Gauthier
Being John Malkovich Blog
Film
Info: Being John Malkovich, 1999, Directed by Spike Jonze. Written by Charlie
Kaufman, Lead actors are John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, Orson
Bean, Mary Kay Place and John Malkovich. Running time of 112 minutes.
Synopsis:
Craig is a puppeteer who finds a job in a building in New York. During his time
at work, he finds this little door in which it transports you into the body of
the famous actor John Malkovich. Craig and his associate make a business out of
this “service”. After finding out that Lotte, Craig’s wife, has fallen in love
with Maxine, Craig’s coworker, Craig goes insane and does anything to be with
Maxine. With his puppeteering skills, he finds a way to stay in John’s body forever and it was at that
point that Maxine wanted to be with the Craig-John to take advantage of the real john's fame and fortune. Lotte is then left alone
with nothing to do and goes to see Dr. Lester, the director of the working floor in the building, to find out if he knew anything
about that whole Malkovich situation and coincidentally, he did! This led to
Dr. Lester to kidnap Maxine to blackmail Craig to get out of Malkovich’s body.
In the end, Craig is rejected of John's body and gets revealed that Maxine was actually in love with Lotte all along. Craig is then left alone, and proceeds to go through the tunnel and ends up in Maxine’s child, while Maxine and Lotte get
together to live a nice life.
Framing
is one of the five film techniques that are important to mention about this
movie. The first time we saw framing was in the opening scene, where there are
many close-ups for Craig’s face showing all the effort he is putting into his
show. Another time we saw framing was in the scene where there was a low angle
of Lotte when she’s about to grab the revolver to attempt to kill Maxine out of
anger to show her angriness and her power over Maxine.
The
music was also a very important piece of this movie as it would make a certain
scene more energetic or more intense. The first important music scene in this
movie was when Lotte is on the ground being forced to call Maxine to arrange a
meeting with John for Craig. During this scene, there is dark music to
accentuate Craig’s malicious move. Also, music is a very important piece
because it is used in every scene that there is puppeteering. The importance is
because the movie is basically about puppeteering.
Lighting
is the third cinematic technique that made this movie more interesting. First,
when John enters the mini door, the lighting turns very lowkey as he has no
clue what is at the other end of the tunnel. The darkness creates a kind of
feeling of not knowing what will happen next and a feeling of fear. Second,
it’s also lowkey when people see through Malkovich’s eyes. The lighting in
these kinds of scenes lets you know that you’re not in your own body, as if
you’re not supposed to be there.
What
made this movie great was the character building. Firstly, Craig was portrayed
as a man that is very “beta”, that is unconfident. He was also shown as crazy
when he decided to put Lotte in a cage. In the end scene, we can see his
desperation of being with Maxine. It was at that point that his character was
complete. The second character that was super interesting was Maxine. Maxine is a character
that is portrayed as very evil and controlling. You can see her teasing both
Craig and Lotte. In the end, we can see that she is smart and has compassion
and is perseverant because she had to endure 8 months with Craig to finally be
with Lotte.
The
acting of this movie was also exceptional. The acting of the real John
Malkovich was phenomenal especially in the scene where he is in a world where
everything is about Malkovich. It was so well acted that you could feel John’s
emotions while he is trapped in that kind of world for 15 minutes. Craig’s
actor, John Cusack, was very well picked because no offence to that guy, but he
does look like a weird man that would do puppeteering in his basement and that
is also crazy. For that and the skill of the actor, it was perfect for this
movie. We could feel that the character played by John Cusack was a beta male
that has no control over his life.
The
first theme is “courage”, in the film “being john Malkovich” a big question
raised is whether or not the road Lotte chose to take was the right path for
her. That being said, the road to following what her heart told her to do which
was leave Craig and go with Maxine. We think that it probably took more than
simply “courage” for someone to do what she has done, in our society today, the
views on LGBTQ+ community is much more opened that what it was a couple years
ago which has made Lotte’s “transition” from Craig to Maxine much more smooth
than what it originally would have been. As to know if she has made the right
decision, we think she definitely did because she listened to what her heart
felt and was obviously happier with Maxine than she was with Craig. This brings
us to state our second theme.
The
second theme is “love”, in the film we are shown the struggle of a love
triangle between Craig, Lotte and Maxine. Craig and Lotte originally being the
couple in the movie ended up not together and this came to a surprise for
Craig. Craig and Maxine were colleges who eventually became “friends” and later
on Craig fell in love with Maxine which has brought him to obsess over her to a
point where he got aggressive with Lotte. Craig was so in love with Maxine that
he was prepared to do anything for her. Later in the movie, Lotte had the
chance to go through the portal where she ended up in John Malkovich’s “mind”
and that was when she first realized she was in love with the thought of being
in a male body. The next morning, Lotte went to visit Craig at his work because
she had the desire to return into John’s portal because she could sense
something and needed to put a finger on it, that is when Lotte and Maxine were
introduced for the
first time. Lotte stated that Maxine was very cute, and this is when she
admitted to Craig, she thought she was transgender and that she wanted to go
see her doctor about it! After their first encounter we can tell through
Maxine’s actions and non-verbal body language she is secretly in love with
Lotte. Eventually, Lotte returned multiple times into the portal but not only
to be in someone else’s body but to meet with Maxine as John Malkovich, the two
had sexual relations and developed a relationship with the time “we love her
Craig, me and John we love her”-Lotte. Therefore, the theme of “love” in this
movie is more than present because we are dealing with a love triangle,
self-love, rejection of love, secrecy of love and learning different ways of
how to love. 
Finally,
the biggest question raised in this movie is definitely how does one get to
“magically” appear in someone else’s mind or body? This is considered supernatural and raises a
lot of philosophical questions as well. It’s all related to consciousness and
knowledge of our surroundings and what lives upon us. How can one simple little
door throw you into someone else’s lifestyle, body and state of mind all so
quickly? Are these illusions? Is it our subconsciousness trying to burst in
evolution? These are the type of philosophical questions the film projects to
the viewers and honestly, we might never know the answers to.
(Question
4 word #: 1255)
The quality of the film is not the
best but it’s also not the worst because during the scenes throughout the movie
it is very easy to follow along with what is happening, but other times it
could get a little confusing. For example, when Craig wasn't able to go see
Maxine, so he decided to pull a gun on his wife Lotte to call Maxine so they
can meet up though the portal. Also, it was very confusing and weird when Craig
was getting interviewed for the job but the secretary of the office didn't
understand anything he was saying, and when he was talking to the manager, the
manager kept telling Craig to not mind his speech impediment even though he
didn’t have one. It was just very confusing like where did he even get the gun
in the first place? The weaknesses from the movie are that sometimes the scenes
wouldn't have enough lighting so at times it could be hard to see what was
happening, and also how the scenes would go from being very calm and relaxing
to intense and fast paced. For example, when Craig’s wife Lotte was taking care
of the animals inside their house while everything was nice and calm around
her, but then all
of a sudden Craig pulls a gun on her and pushes her to the ground just because
Maxine liked his wife more than she liked Craig. Some of the positive sides to
this movie are that the actors fit the role of their specific characters in the
movie, for example Craig’s character is weird and nerdy so his role played by
John Cusack fits perfectly. This movie is a little odd but not to the point
where you can’t watch it. It’s odd because in reality you would never find a
portal in your office behind a filing cabinet that leads you inside another
person’s mind where you can view the world through their eyes.
We
are rating “Being John Malkovich” a 3.5 out of 5 because of the content of the
film. The film overall was a good film which raised a lot of questioning from
the viewers in addition to the people in the film, but the movie is not an easy
movie to understand and may not be understood by all viewers. Furthermore, at
times, the film had neutral zones, meaning, it was getting boring at times and
“out of action” which left the viewers feeling bored during the viewing of the
film. |
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1.After experiencing
the harsh fate that character Craig Schwartz, played by John Cusack, was the
punishment sufficient for how he acted in the movie, or was it much too severe
seeing how Craig would be trapped in the mind of a child for the rest of
his/her life?
2.A rather
strange and very unnatural sexual relationship develops between three
characters in the movie. John Malkovich, Maxine (Craig’s colleague), and Lotte
(Craig’s wife) have numeral affairs however, Lotte is only a spectator in
John’s mind, only being able to feel everything he does. Is the relationship
between Lotte and Maxine considered real, if so, how?
3.What would happen if someone went into John Malkovich’s mind at the same
time as John dies? Would that person be trapped in the mind of a dead person
forever?
● This article discusses consciousness,
being conscious means to be able to control one's behaviour, being able to
focus your attention on something around you, and also being conscious means
that you should be able to categorize and react to the things happening around
them. When someone or something is conscious it means that they are able to
control everything about them like their actions, emotions, their thoughts, and
how they react to things that happen in their lives around them.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2016/11/17/why-understanding-other-perspectives-is-a-key-leadership-skill/#236f669a6d20
● People need to be able to
understand that not everyone views life the same way that they do. Everyone has
a different view of different things that go on during one's lifetime.
Sometimes people don’t understand what other people are going through until it
either happens to them or they “walk in the other person's shoes” to view
exactly what is happening to the other person.
Work Cited
Ebert,
Roger. “Being John Malkovich Movie Review (1999) | Roger Ebert.”
RogerEbert.com,
29 Oct. 1999, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/being-john-malkovich-1999.
29 Oct. 1999, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/being-john-malkovich-1999.
Fieser,J.
(2018, January 6). Mind. Retrieved March 25, 2019, from
https://www.utm.edu/staff/jfieser/class/120/3-mind.html
https://www.utm.edu/staff/jfieser/class/120/3-mind.html
Jonze,
S., Kaufman, C., Cusack, J., Diaz, C., Keener, C., Bean, O., Place & MK.
Malkovich,
J. Being John Malkovich. USA Films, 1999.
J. Being John Malkovich. USA Films, 1999.
Surdek,
S. (2017, August 31). Why Understanding Other Perspectives Is A Key Leadership
Skill. Retrieved March 25,
2019, from
Brianna de Melo
ReplyDelete1. After experiencing the harsh fate that character Craig Schwartz, played by John Cusack, was the punishment sufficient for how he acted in the movie, or was it much too severe seeing how Craig would be trapped in the mind of a child for the rest of his/her life?
Personally speaking I do not think the punishment is too severe at all. For starters, Craig is chasing after a women who is not his wife. That is already morally wrong and something he should not be doing. In a way it can be considered being unfaithful to his wife even though he has not physically cheated on her, he does have an interest in another woman and is trying to get with her behind his wife’s back. You can even say that at the end when he is stuck in the portal having to watch Maxine and Lotte together, it is karma for his poor actions and choices. When Lotte found out about the portal and met Maxine, she took an interest in Maxine herself as well as telling Craig she has discovered she is transsexual. Craig preceded later on by locking her up in a cage with her chimpanzee so he can enter the portal and get himself closer to Maxine. All of these poor choices just ended up rebounding and karma ended up getting him back in the end. He didn’t only affect Lotte with his inconsiderate choices, but John Malkovich as well. He was entering his mind without permission and in a way taking his consciousness away from him. John had no control over his actions. John became Craig’s puppet. When John Malkovich came to the conclusion of what was going on and he discovered the portal, he demanded for Craig to shut it down right away but Craig, of course, did not listen to John’s wishes. The rule of the portal was that after a certain age you get trapped inside and Craig missed the deadline for this and ended up being trapped inside. However he was trapped inside Emily’s body who was Maxine’s daughter. This forced him to watch Maxine and Lotte live a happy life together, supposedly in love. With this being said, I do not think that the punishment was much too severe. Craig had control over his actions and still went through with what was wrong. You can say that his love and passion for Maxine took over but that is no excuse for the wrong that he did. In the end karma got him good and the punishment is what he has to pay in return.
Crista Joyce Javier
ReplyDelete2.A rather strange and very unnatural sexual relationship develops between three characters in the movie. John Malkovich, Maxine (Craig’s colleague), and Lotte (Craig’s wife) have numeral affairs however, Lotte is only a spectator in John’s mind, only being able to feel everything he does. Is the relationship between Lotte and Maxine considered real, if so, how?
Lotte and Maxine’s relationship is real to me because of the very last scene of them being happy together. At the beginning of the movie, you can see that Lotte and Craig’s relationship was falling apart especially when Lotte asked if Craig would want to have kids with her. However, this became worse when he got a new job and fell in love with his co-worker Maxine. After being in Malkovich’s consciousness, Lotte realized that being a man was what she needed all along. The first female encounter through a male’s perspective was Maxine. This might have been the main reason why Lotte fell in love with her but with time her feelings became stronger. In other words, Lotte would have fell in love with the first female she saw through Malkovich’s eyes. On the other hand, Maxine only liked Lotte when she went into Malkovich’s consciousness. In fact, there was one scene where Lotte attempted to grab Maxine but then Maxine only wanted to see her in Malkovich. Later on in the movie, when Craig takes over Malkovich’s body, she then realized how much she misses Lotte. All in all, their relationship was basically due to Malkovich’s body so their relationship was only real near the end of the movie when they finally interact face to face.
1.After experiencing the harsh fate that character Craig Schwartz, played by John Cusack, was the punishment sufficient for how he acted in the movie, or was it much too severe seeing how Craig would be trapped in the mind of a child for the rest of his/her life?
ReplyDeleteI personnally believe that Craig's punishment was sufficient, and in fact it should have been even worse. Craig was a selfish man, and for me that is one of the worst qualities to have as a person. Craig didn't care about anyone but himself, we would do anything, hurt anyone, even his wife, to get what he wants. He was so determined to get with Maxine that he attacked his own wife and treated her like an animal. Craig even disregarded the life of another human being, John Malkovich, Craig decided to go into the portal and stay inside Malkovich, until he was able to suppress Malkovich and control his body and mind. Therefore, Craig deserves to have to live his rest of his life through the eyes of Maxine and Lotte's daughter. His best punishment is that he will be able to watch the love of his life everyday through Maxine's daughter's eyes but he won't be able to communicate with her. I think that this punishment is still not as severe as it should be, I believe that Craig should have to endure worse pain than that that he caused others.