Adaptation is a brilliantly imaginative film

Five out of five stars

By: Adnan Virk

Posted: 1/28/03

Adaptation is hands down one of the most brilliantly imaginative films to come along since, well, the last one from this writing/directing team of Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze, 1999's Being John Malkovich.

Whereas that film took you into the mind of John Malkovich, this one takes you into the head of the writer of that movie.

Nicholas Cage plays Charlie Kaufman, a fat, balding, and insecure screenwriter who takes on the task of adapting a book called The Orchard Thief into a movie. There's only one problem, it's a book about flower hunters with no real plot, and it's driving him insane.

Then there's Charlie's twin brother Donald, also played by Nicholas Cage. Donald is confident, aloof, funny, and totally oblivious to the fact that he gets everything Charlie wants in life without even trying.

He decides out of the blue to become a screenwriter like Charlie, whose talent he idolizes. He's everything Charlie isn't, but he wants to be what Charlie is.

Alongside Charlie's confusion with life and this book (which is real by the way), the film doubles as an actual adaptation of the book too.

To that end, Meryl Streep plays New York writer Susan Orlean, who decides to do an article on the life and exploits of an eccentric and charismatic "orchard thief" named John Laroche (Chris Cooper).

Her empty marriage has left her wanting to know what its like to feel truly passionate about something and trying to understand Laroche's passion for an elusive ghost orchid, bringing the two closer together.

The movie jumps around between the two plots until Charlie's writing takes an insane turn and he starts writing the exact film you're watching.

That's when things really start to get weird, going off in all kinds of unexpected directions, effortlessly weaving from dramatic and serious to hilarious and satirical.

Confused? Don't worry, it all makes a twisted sort of sense onscreen in a way that only Jonze and Kaufman (actual writer) can pull off and succeeds on so many levels, to the point where I still can't stop thinking about it a week after seeing it.

Casually, Adaptation works beautifully as a quirky little film about four distinct lives which intersect in strange and unpredictable ways.

Also, if you've ever had trouble writing, you'll be able to relate to this movie, as its one of the most realistic yet clever depictions of writer's block ever put on film.

On a deeper level, it works as a mind-bending mix of reality and fiction that openly mocks all the rules and conventions of Hollywood, right down to its dramatic and subversive climax.

Despite all that, it never feels like a trick or a gimmick, because it's the humanity of these off-center characters that makes you care about these four lives.

Nicholas Cage completely loses himself in both the twitchy repressed Charlie and the casual breezy Donald, as their scenes together are really funny and incredibly well-acted, filled with distinctive subtlety.

Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper play off each other perfectly and both deserve the Supporting Actor/Actress Golden Globes they just won.

Cooper in particular does a remarkable job in making Laroche both entertaining and tragic at the same time.

The rest of the supporting cast is also sublime all around, from Cara Seymour as Charlie's object of unrequited affections Amelia, Brian Cox's thunderous turn as writer Robert McKee, to Ron Livingston as Charlie's over-the-top agent Marty.

If I had to criticize, all I could say is that maybe the first half hour moved a little slowly, and overall some may find it all a little too strange and obscure, but that's really just nitpicking.

Adaptation is in limited release (playing in only five or six theaters around this area), but it's definitely worth the effort to track down this funny, bizarre, and touching film that's easily one of the best of the past year.