Adaptation. (2002)

A brilliantly layered film, containing scintillating performances from an incredibly talented cast, who perfectly capture several elements within the film; comedic interjections, dramatic escapades, and exceptional depictions of mental illness. An original film, only let down by a disappointing and predictable climax.

Despite the success of his first produced script, Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) is riddled with issues in his work and personal life – he struggles to adapt a book to the big silver screen after being hired to do so by Valerie Thomas (Tilda Swinton) and the strong sense of self social situations he experiences prevents him from enduring any such event without embarrassing himself or regretting what he did or didn’t say. His writer’s block intensifies as the film continues, as he is unable to make the non-fictional book, The Orchard Thief, interesting enough for what he believes makes a compelling script, whilst we as viewers are given insight into the author, Susan Orlean’s (Meryl Streep) life. Writing a book about John Laroche (Chris Cooper), an orchid breeder with incomprehensible views on the workings of the world and the role he takes upon himself within his distorted view of society, has its impacts upon Orlean, as Kaufman, with assistance from his twin brother Donald, come to discover…

A film with a steady pace that some may call slow, succeeds thanks to the pairing of writer Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze, who thrilled audiences and box office alike with their superb creation 'Being John Malkovich', whose complementary ideas bounce off each other to great triumph, revealing another approach entirely to the production of a film, that pays off immensely. Kaufman’s delicate handling of his own character’s depression, portrayed so sincerely and understandably by Cage, conveys how he yearns to fill an empty void within himself, yet fails due to his inability to summon up the enthusiasm, shut out as he is from his own emotional store. The introduction of the fictitious Donald into the main plot lifts the tone of the film, adding elements of a thriller, reflective of the genre he himself writes about within the film, though the high-stake drama fails to deliver a satisfactory end, as it grants the audience the end they have come to expect, leaving its ground-breaking and profoundly shrew approach into examining human psychosis and the route it can take them to. If a film blunders its way through an end chapter of its story, it will undoubtedly leave an unsavoury impression upon the audience, who then strain to remember what made the film strike so close to the unbridled genius it had within its grasp.

Though not the first film to explore the creative process, it arguably deals with it the most deftly and elegantly of any that tried – it is true testament to the skill of all that were involved, particularly Kaufman for both exposing his own vulnerabilities and for taking a risk in being so ‘self-indulgent’ and ‘solipsistic’, to use his own words. 'Adaptation' is a substantial visit into the mind of man and his motivators, and most suitable for mature audiences who will be able to appreciate and grapple with the depth the film explores.