Being John Malkovich

Cast View all

	John Cusack	Craig Schwartz
	Cameron Diaz	Lotte Schwartz
	Ned Bellamy	Derek Mantini
	Eric Weinstein	Father at Puppet Show
	Madison Lanc	Daughter at Puppet Show
	Octavia Spencer	Woman in Elevator
	Mary Kay Place	Floris
	Orson Bean	Dr. Lester
	Catherine Keener	Maxine Lund
	K.K. Dodds	Wendy
	Reginald C. Hayes	Don
	Byrne Piven	Captain Mertin
	Judith Wetzell	Tiny Woman
	John Malkovich	John Horatio Malkovich
	Kevin Carroll	Cab Driver
	Willie Garson	Guy in Restaurant
	W. Earl Brown	First J.M. Inc. Customer
	Charlie Sheen	Charlie
	Gerald Emerick	Sad Man in Line
	Bill M. Ryusaki	Mr. Hiroshi
	Carlos Jacott	Larry the Agent
	James Murray	Student Puppeteer
	Richard Fancy	Johnson Heyward
	Patti Tippo	Malkovich's Mother
	Daniel Hansen	Boy Malkovich

Crew View all

Director	Spike Jonze
Writer	Charlie Kaufman
Producer	Steve Golin, Charlie Kaufman, Michael Kuhn, Vincent Landay, Sandy Stern, Michael Stipe
Musician	Carter Burwell
Photography	Lance Acord

Trailer

Edition details

Personal

Notes

WSR Narrative Review

Story Synopsis:
If the idea of between-gigs puppeteer Craig Schwartz (Cusack) with a pet-obsessed wife (Diaz) taking a job with company on the seven-and-a-halfth floor with a loopy comprehension-challenged “executive liaison” (Place) who’s convinced her boss Dr. Lester (Bean) that he’s the one with the problem doesn’t make you want to dive head first into Being John Malkovich then your brain waves must be flatter than a flounder. While at that job on the seven-and-a-halfth floor, Craig finds a hidden door and is amazed to discover that it is a portal into the mind of John Malkovich himself. Along with his wife and an intriguing co-worker (Keener), the three come up with a plan to allow others to experience the wonders of Malkovich’ brain for $200 each.

DVD Picture:
Viewed in a completely blackened room, the anamorphically enhanced 1.85:1 DVD exhibits excellent image quality. The picture is stylized, often with cold blue and green hues, but with nicely balanced colors. Fleshtones are nicely rendered. Contrast and shadow delineation are pleasing, with a good gradation of visual information between darkness and picture black. Images are sharp with fine details for a picture that is solid with good clarity. There are no distractions for an intriguing picture that is beautifully rendered.

Soundtrack:
The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack is rather predictable, but nonetheless should be a fine match for this film’s genre. The audio will deliver a screen channel-oriented listening experience with minor surround activity. That is, of course, until you are taken inside John Malkovich! The POV scenes while you are inside the featured actor are very intriguing and the sound design is creatively noteworthy. The soundfield dramatically shifts to the surrounds, with the presence of an interesting rumble. Malkovich’s dialogue pervades the listening space, and the muffled sounds, which is a rendition of what you hear inside his head, is an interesting touch to the unique soundstage. The audio environment gets even more interesting when Malkovich "enters inside himself!" The dialogue features nicely recorded voices and fair spatial integration with some presence of close-miking. Deep bass is not a substantial factor in this film, although the .1 LFE kicks in gently and low frequencies can often be noticed. The music is a good recording, and is integrated into the sound mix with ample depth and envelopment. This will surely be an interesting film to experience; the audio certainly being an important aspect of it.

This Disc Contains The Following WSR-Rated Superb Qualities:
Collector Edition
Superb Cinematography

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