The worst airport dilemma is trying to find a book to read. You can pick up something digestible by one of the reliable authors that writes in your favorite genre, but the general plot structure and flavor is going to be predictable. It is nice to find something new and different – to roll the dice and try somebody new. More often than not, though, this results in disappointment.
Looking for a video can be the same kind of dilemma. This is lessened somewhat when you order DVDs online with services like Netflix.com, because you can play online previews and read the recommendations of others. But the search for something new and different is a never-ending obsession.
Every once in a while, a movie with a thrilling new twist comes along: The Graduate, The Sting, Pulp Fiction and Sliding Doors are examples of films that broke new ground. One of the most original films in recent years was Being John Malkovich. That remarkable script was written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze. In the 2002 film Adaptation, the pair team up again to produce one of the most remarkably original stories on celluloid.
Jonze is the ex-husband of Lost in Translation Director Sofia Coppola, which makes him a shirt-tail relation of the whole Coppola film mafia, including Francis Coppola (Godfather) Talia Shire (Rocky) and a host of other lights in the string of Coppola luminaries, including the star of Adaptation, his cousin-in-law Nicholas Cage (whose real name is Nicholas Coppola).
The movie is loosely based on the book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. A valid work in its own right, the book is a successful non-fiction account of a man in
But the movie is anything but a docudrama about a questionable, if fascinating, orchid thief. In writing the script, Kaufman uses the act of writing the screenplay for the book as a jumping off point for a tortuous and evolving story about himself writing the screenplay. The story gathers steam as the film moves along, and runs right past The Orchid Thief as it turns into a breathless adventure and a remarkable philosophical statement. In the movie, screenwriter Donald Kaufman (Kaufman the character, played by Nick Cage) is an introspective self-doubter with writer's block. Desperate to find a way to get the script going, he begins to write about his experience in trying to write the script, including his own self-doubts and worries. "I know how to finish the script now. It ends with Kaufman driving home after his lunch with Amelia, thinking he knows how to finish the script," he thinks to himself. And later, "Wonder who's gonna play me. Someone not too fat. I liked that Gerard Depardieu, but can he not do the accent?"
Donald Kaufman's twin brother Charlie (also played by Cage) is as crass and unsophisticated as Donald is wise and savvy. But he has one good quality that may offset all of his faults; he is a fearless extrovert. So in spite of his intellectual inferiority, he gets all the girls, and hits on the idea of being a screenwriter like his brother. At first this is an enormous annoyance for Donald, who rolls his eyes at most of the things his brother says. "Listen, I need a cool way to kill people," chirps Charlie, "Don't worry! For my script!"
As the story evolves, Donald begins to realize he could use some of his brother's enthusiasm and completely fearless ability to act and speak regardless of any potential criticism or disapproval from others. Borrowing his brother's courage, Donald breaks through the wall of inertia and begins to do the legwork needed to build his story, turning up chilling new discoveries about the activities of the orchid thief.
That's only the beginning of the maze of crazy twists as the plot progresses. There is no way to pigeonhole this film. It belongs to no genre. It is off the wall. Meryl Streep plays the part of writer Orlean. Chris Cooper plays the part of orchid thief John LaRoche. The alligators in the