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Order this DVD from Amazon.com
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Adaptation
(Superbit
Collection)
(Fox Home
Entertainment)
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| DVD
Release Date:
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May
20, 2003
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Length:
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114 mins.
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| Rated:
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R
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| Format:
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Widescreen (1.85:1/16x9)
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Audio:
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English Dolby Digital 5.1, English DTS 5.1, French Dolby Digital
5.1, English Digital Stereo
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| Subtitles:
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English, French Closed-Captioned
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| Extras:
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Cast
and Filmmaker Filmographies, Trailer
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I love movies where, while you are
watching them, you are constantly trying to figure out how much of it
is fact and how much is fiction. "Adaptation" is exactly one
of those movies. Nicolas Cage stars as Charles Kaufman and his twin
brother Donald Kaufman who are screenwriter's attempting to write
movie scripts (in reality they are both screenwriter's -- Charlie
Kaufman wrote "Being John Malkovich" and both of them wrote
"Adaptation")
"Adaptation" is centered around Charles Kaufman and traces
his attempt to adapt a book ("The Orchid Thief") to the
screen. Kaufman is a neurotic mess who is struggling, not only with
his screenplay but also with his life. He is an agoraphobic, sweaty,
nervous and chronically masturbating wreck who is painful to watch on
screen. His brother Donald however, who is struggling to write his own
script, is his brother's opposite. Confident around people and
optimistic throughout, he is the yin to Charles' yang and the strain
of their relationship is clearly realized.
The movie is really about a screenwriter's attempt to write a
screenplay and the demanding and stressful situation they can
sometimes find themselves in. While attempting to write this movie,
the twins become involved in the lives of The Orchid Thief's author
Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep), and the subject of her book John Laroche
(Chris Cooper) and the events that unfold with some dire outcomes for
everyone. Both the book and the author are real people as well and the
question throughout is how much of this movie is fact.
"Adaptation" starts out slow and the character of Charles
Kaufman makes it painfully so. Nicolas Cage does an excellent job at
playing the twins and Meryl Streep, as usual, plays a great crying,
mess of a woman. The movie picks up at the end which seemed to
coincide with Charles Kaufman's awakening and there are some great car
accident scenes that are very, very real looking.
I have to say that overall I liked "Adaptation". It was a
bit slow but it had a deep emotional quality that made me want to see
how it ended. I thought the screenplay was very original and daring
although it did seem a little disconnected in parts as the story
jumped back and forth quite a bit between time periods. I did like the
fact that there was something genuine about it, like the characters
being portrayed were real people. If the real Charles Kaufman is
anything like Nicolas Cage's portrayal of him he has very big balls to
put all of himself out there like that for the whole world to see (and
feel sorry for). I would buy this movie or, at the least, I would let
someone give it to me as a gift.
As a Superbit title, the extras on this DVD are very limited. There
are filmographies for Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Charlie Kaufman, and
Chris Cooper and there is the theatrical trailer. Big deal.
| The
Movie: |
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7.5/10 |
| The
Extras: |
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1/10 |
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| Recommendation: |
One
For The Library |
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