Being John Malkovich

Being John Malkovich was nothing like what I had expected it to be. I heard about this movie when it came out originally and hadn’t seen it until now. The trailers are very misleading.  It is definitely a mix of the mundane and the fantastical with a darker tone.  It is not dark in the way that it is depressing but more that not of the characters are really all that sympathetic with the exclusion of John Malkovich himself and this could be done on purpose.  It is set in a city, specifically in very cramped crowded settings be it the office floor 7 ½ or the apartment where Craig and Lotte live.  This cramped feeling could be a reflection on the confinement of their lives and how they seek being John Malkovich as a way to escape that.  This urban fantasy also explores sexuality and being both male and female. Maxine, whom both Lotte and Craig fall in love with is probably the least sympathetic character out of all of them and yet she is the object of their desire and they both spend the whole film trying to be who Maxine wants them to be.  This film plays with the idea of free will and is a very interesting look into some of the ‘what ifs” of reality.