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film: Adaptation

SigmaSis03

SigmaSis03

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Adaptation

Has anyone seen this Nicholas Cage/Meryl Streep film? I was just beginning to get used to how the movie was kind of folding in on itself when BOOM out of nowhere everything goes all crazy. Drugs, alligators, car crashes, absolute madness. Anyway, I'm curious to know what others thought of it and my search turned up nothing. I liked it in a weird way and I'd love to hear some other opinions.
 
Juxtapose his initial plans for the screenplay (while talking with the studio exec) with the way it (the/his film) turns out after talking with "an expert."
This was a BRILLIANTLY self-referential, tongue-in-cheek film the whole way through. I didn't expect to like it, but I wound up loving it.
[ 14 January 2003: Message edited by: Baron ]
 
Ditto to baron.
He starts off with a movie that "doesn't go anywhere" is "about nothing". but soon after talking to his brother and the movie guru experts, the movie we're watching turns into the same thing whch is about what we're watching, which is about the script he is writing, which he is writing right now and... whewww my head hurts
 
I'm in this one kids :) Seriously.
Blurry and only for about a second.. but hey at least I'm in it...
In one of my classes we used STORY as the textbook. Someone brought a copy of Adaptation's script in basically as an FU to the teacher. Irony.. gotta love it.
 
Honestly, this film is a bit over-hyped, and overrated...
Being John Malkovich was such an amazing picture, it just seemed like they were trying to hard to make this film as inventive and unique, and missed in the end...
It starts out quite nice, but falls into such an implausible mess of a story, it trips over it's own layers of self-referance to the point of seeming uninspired almost...
Perhaps I was just expecting too fucking much, who knows?
 
The point was the implausable mess of a story... Sort of about how it's easier to just cave and sell out then it is to follow your heart and speak a message.
 
Just saw this film tonight after hearing a good recommendation from a friend.
Maybe it just rubbed me the wrong way, but I thought it tried too hard to be clever just for the sake of being clever. I felt like the film was trying to trick me into thinking the cheesy parts were actually something deeper simply because the film itself called attention to them.
An interesting way to bring closure to a difficult script, anyway.
[ 03 February 2003: Message edited by: Curious Yellow ]
 
It's sad that this film is getting such terrible reviews. All this does is proove how little attention can really be paid to a movie.
The entire film was a satire of it's self.
People say the first two acts were boring, the last act was contrived, and the whole thing tried too hard to be clever... those people didn't pay ANY attention to the movie. Hell, these people probably think Donald Kaufman was REAL.
The film was probably as close to the real Charlie Kaufman's life as "Being John Malkovich" was to the real Malkovich's.
I loved this movie. I thought it was another great new concept by Charlie Kaufman. I can't wait to see it again.
Adios,
Steve
 
Originally posted by Lingo:
People say the first two acts were boring, the last act was contrived, and the whole thing tried too hard to be clever... those people didn't pay ANY attention to the movie. Hell, these people probably think Donald Kaufman was REAL.

You mean he didn't have a brother that got killed by flying out of the car windshield after an accident while fleeing from alligators and people who were trying to kill them? I had really thought that that contrived set-up actually happened. Thanks for the insight.
Click to expand...
 
^^
yes but don't you see the humor in it all? The irony? Like I said, the movie was a parody of it's self. Several different sets of guidlines and rules are layed down by several different characters, all of them are eventualy trounced in one way or another.
It amazes me that movies like Titanic or Armageddon, films with NO real thought behind anything accept special effects, can garner such critical success, yet fun, original, refreshing films like Adaptation are called "over-hyped". It wasn't a formulaic, cliched movie. All too often I can watch a movie for the first time and tell you exactly what is going to happen and when. I had NO idea where Adaptation was going, what was going to happen next. This is a good thing
On the same token, it was not some deep masterpiece like Seventh Samurai or Requiem for a Dream. It has no hidden meanings or messages. Yeah, there are some wistfull moments when Meryl Streeps character feels "a desire to care about something" or when Charlie and Donald have a heart-to-heart talk about self esteem vs. self loathing, but it never really gets much more... "thought-provoking".
Adios,
Steve
 
Part of the fun of this film (besides being in it) for me was the fact that I actually had to spend an entire semester reading STORY... God I hated every minute of it. I was so happy to see that someone whom has actually done something recognizable hated it just as much as I did.
 
It wasn't a formulaic, cliched movie. All too often I can watch a movie for the first time and tell you exactly what is going to happen and when. I had NO idea where Adaptation was going, what was going to happen next. This is a good thing
This is really the only reason i enjoyed it. Because you couldnt really understand the whole parody deal to its full extent til the end of the film. I personally didn't expect the movie to become inverted the way it did towards the end. Plus, having yourself swayed by the emotional effect of scenes that are deliberately being mocked and criticized throughout the film was kind of weird.
Click to expand...
 
Re: Adaptation

SigmaSis03 said:
Has anyone seen this Nicholas Cage/Meryl Streep film? I was just beginning to get used to how the movie was kind of folding in on itself when BOOM out of nowhere everything goes all crazy. Drugs, alligators, car crashes, absolute madness. Anyway, I'm curious to know what others thought of it and my search turned up nothing. I liked it in a weird way and I'd love to hear some other opinions.
Click to expand...

The drugs, alligators etc... notice how they all started after Charlie got Donald to help him write the ending? That was his style of script... or did I just point out the obvious?
 
throughout the movie you see him go through the torture of trying to make a movie that goes 'nowhere' so after he speaks with the 'guru' he is told that no one cares about a movie about flowers, it has to be exciting etc etc blah blah, so thats exactly what he did, right after speaking with him and having donald help, what happened? well the flower is an indian drug and they are harvesting it and people start shooting and his brother died and all that jazz heheh. The movie does a really good job at making fun of itself (and i think the audience) by 'selling itself out' in order to please everyone. I thought this was a great movie. Personally, I love it to death.

trippies
 
i love love loved adaptation!! and some of the things pointed out from "the orchid thief" were so poignant. *sniffles* i'm dying to read it now! Anyhoo... i loved the poignancy of the "orchid thief" references and the crazy, hilarious nature of the film itself, and the way it takes the piss out of itself and hollywood. incase you didn't notice, the last part where everything became chaotic was to make "adaptation" everything Charlie Kaufuman [Nicholas Cage] set out not to make a screenplay about - "hollywood" based. btw, i loved BJM too...but i think adaptation has to get more credit for its depth.
 
Yeh I gotta say I loved this movie, too. And I was expecting great things after Being John Malchovich.
I love the cheeky humor. I love the fact that the story is always one step ahead of us, because Charlie is writing the script as the movie plays. And I loved the scenes that were set 'on the set' of 'Being John Malchovich' (the 7-and-a-halfth floor!)

Maybe this film is one for the film-making enthusiasts out there, but you've gotta love its spirit

BTW, is 'The Orchid Hunter' a real book?
 
just watched this - i was afraid that the 'concept' would overwhelm itself and that it would just come off as a winking, nodding, self-congratulatory piece.

i was pleasantly surprised - as a big fan of being john malkovich, i perhaps should have had more faith.

"'...should have had more faith'. blank line. alasdair ends the post by signing his name. the end"

alasdair
 
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