Being John Malkovich

Taking a job as a filing clerk on the seventh-and-a-half floor (don’t ask), John Cusack happens across a portal into the head of John Malkovich, the actor. Chivvied along by maneater Catherine Keener, he starts selling tickets to interested parties, but not before his wife (an unrecognisably frumpy Cameron Diaz) has decided she likes being a man so much she needs a sex change operation…

This was the feature debut for director Spike Jonze, after making his name with inspired music videos for the likes of Fatboy Slim and the Beastie Boys, and the first produced screenplay for writer Charlie Kaufman. (They would collaborate again on Adaptation.) There’s real yearning in this darkly bizarre, mind-bending comedy about voyeurism, sex, and the human desire to play God. You can’t get much further out of the box than this.

Staff Pick: Eirinn & Emma

Devilishly inventive and so far out there it’s almost off the scale.

David Rooney, Variety

An incredibly rich and entertaining (not to say, laudably malevolent) film that far transcends its already way-out title premise.

Jonathan Romney, Sight & Sound

Media Partner