Being John Malkovich 15
Directed by Spike Jonze Starring John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich.
Jonze, an award-winning director of pop promos and commercials, makes a highly confident feature film debut with this remarkably offbeat and original fantasy film, in which a puppeteer (Cusack) discovers a portal that leads into the brain of the eponymous actor.
Charlie Kaufman's rich, labyrinthine screenplay exudes a keen sense of the absurd in this very funny and surprisingly affecting film. Playing himself, Malkovich is endearingly self- deprecating.
Magnolia 18
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, Jason Robards, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Melora Waters, William H. Macy
The third feature from Boogie Nights director Paul Thomas Anderson is a dark and enthralling mosaic of nine intertwined stories set over course of one eventful day and night in the San Fernando Valley of southern California. Certain themes echo off each other - estranged family members, dying patriarchs, unfulfilled ambitions, bitter regrets - as Anderson constructs contrasting mirror images of the protagonists and their lives. The melancholy mood is enhanced by Aimee Mann's songs. And Anderson elicits memorable performances from the formidable cast he assembled, not least of them Tom Cruise's startling portrayal of a foul-mouthed sex guru.
Three Kings 18
Directed by David O. Russell Starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Spike Jonze, Ice Cube
Writer-director Russell follows Spanking the Monkey and Flirting With Disaster with a dark action-comedy set in Iraq at the end of the Gulf War, when some US soldiers find a map leading to Kuwaiti gold stolen by the Iraqis. The visual style is consistently arresting, and there is a distinctly surreal quality to this imaginatively scripted picture played with panache by its leading actors, among them Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze.