Written by Charlie Kaufman, directed by Spike Jonze, and with an excellent dual-role for Nicolas Cage, portraying Charlie and his twin Donald, comedy-drama ADAPTATION (2002) offers an offbeat deconstruction and meta-dissection of screenwriting and the nature of making movies.
It boasts outstanding support from Meryl Streep, Tilda Swinton, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, with Brian Cox as story-maven Robert McKee, plus endearing cameo appearances for studio flashbacks about Jonze’s classic Being John Malkovich (1999). Prompted by a case of writer’s block, this is bursting with searing pathos for profoundly creative struggles, while attempting to turn literary art-forms into something more commercial.
But “..what if the writer is attempting to create a story where nothing much happens?” It never succumbs to entirely maudlin sentiment or gentle whimsy, but explores with a fascinating wit, various models of documentary realism, bizarre fantasy, and almost everything between such polarised opposites. This peculiarly amusing satire remains essential viewing for any keen fans of genuinely innovative cinema.
