"ADAPTATION" OF A LIFETIME!

Those of you who have made my humble blog a place of regular visit may have noticed I enjoy writing. I only wish I could find more time to do it in! However, as someone who LOVES movies and loves writing, when I saw Adaptation – a film about writing – I had to see it. Technically, it was the second time I saw it, but the first time was years ago and it doesn’t seem to have made much of an impression on me (I couldn’t remember a thing about it) although God knows why… It’s a truly magnificent film on almost all counts…

Now, this film is based on true events. But please put an emphasis on “based”. Although there no doubt are real events it is based on, the film is by and large fictionalized by its scriptwriter Charlie Kauffman. The film is about – Charlie Kaufman. After gaining critical acclaim with Being John Malkovich, Charlie Kaufman (played here by Nicolas Cage. Funny, didn’t we see more of him in the past? Where is he now?) receives another commission. He is to adapt a book – The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean (the acting legend Meryl Streep) – to screen. Doesn’t sound like a challenge for a professional scriptwriter, no? Well, yes in this case. Try as he might, Charlie can’t adapt the book; meanwhile, his infuriatingly outgoing and smooth twin brother Donald (also Nicolas Cage) decides to take up screenwriting as well and plunges ahead. Between his personal life that is crumbling at the edges due to Charlie’s timidity and pressure from the producers Charlie, begins to become slightly obsessed with Susan Orlean and the real life character of her book John LaRoche (Chris Cooper who won an Oscar ® for his performance in the film). As he struggles with the script and follows his obsession – with help from his twin brother Donald – he will make many discoveries… A lot of self-discovery but a couple of scandals as well…

Now, between Chris Cooper, Meryl Streep and Nicolas Cage, one isn’t surprised to come across some of the best acting of our times… Spike Jonze is well known as a director anyway, I’m not going to go on and on about him… And with a scriptwriter like Kaufman (Yes you DO know him actually. He wrote stuff like Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich) it is one HELL of a yarn… But it is interesting on another level as well – I mean this is a master talking about his trade. He even brings in one of the great academics in the field of screenwriting – John McKee in for a short spurt. But it’s not bookish in case you’re wondering; it’s HILARIOUS to start with. And then it takes a surprise turn and becomes INCREDIBLY exciting… It provides plenty of laughs, plenty of food for thought… All in all very similar to a good meal executed by the best of the profession for every course… And what about the reality of it? Well, just to start with Charlie Kaufman DOES NOT have a twin brother called Donald. And although the book The Orchid Thief does exist and Kaufman was supposed to adapt it, he couldn’t exactly – the book was too void of structure so he wrote his own frustrations in, and lo and behold “Adaptation” was born – bringing a trail of BAFTAs, Golden Globes, a Silver Bear and a Golden Bear nomination at the Berlin Film Festival for Spkie Jonze and much, much more… You will not be disappointed…