Looking at the Big Picture
Paramount Summer Classic Film Series goes large
By Sean L. Malin, Fri., May 20, 2016
Adaptation
When I first saw Adaptation – on DVD – the mythos of Charlie Kaufman's genius took hold of my brain. Then it screened at a theatre at my college; I soon became obsessive. His scripts for Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind had brought him wider attention, but the theatrical experience proves that the Spike Jonze-directed Adaptation is Kaufman's first classic and masterpiece.
Ostensibly about Charlie and Donald Kaufman (both played by Nicolas Cage in his best-ever roles) struggling with envy, women, and script-writing, the film is also a neurotic Dalí painting made mobile. Jonze's direction of Cage, Meryl Streep as journalist Susan Orlean, and Chris Cooper (who won an Academy Award) as a toothless orchid thief is Kaufman's perfect complement. Adaptation reiterates the capacity for surreal magnificence within these filmmakers, writ large on the big screen.
Tue., July 26, 7pm (P)
