2002: Year in Review

Spike Jonze's sophomore effort is as bewildering, magnificent, odd, funny and original as its predecessor. In what amounts to ultra-meta fiction, the film concerns screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (played by Nicolas Cage), the Oscar-nominated and much-beloved scribe behind "Being John Malkovich" (1999), which was Jonze's feature debut. He is (in his own words) "fat, bald, sweating profusely, pathetic, ugly" and is potentially to be hired by a studio executive (Tilda Swinton) to adapt a much-acclaimed book called "The Orchid Thief," based on a New Yorker article by the book's author Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep). The book, if it's about anything at all, concerns the exploits of John Laroche (Chris Cooper), a toothless Florida swamp-rat of a man who uses his friends, all Seminole Indians, to excavate and effectively abscond with many rare species of orchid from the bogs and backwoods of the Everglades. Susan, interviewing Laroche for first an article and then a book, falls for his insane charms. Meanwhile, Charlie has a brother named Donald (also played by Cage), his much more confident, obnoxious and simple-minded id. He's gearing up for a three-day screenwriting seminar from Robert McKee (Brian Cox), the notoriously difficult teacher of all things formula. Charlie is all-but-paralyzingly nervous, attempting quite futilely to flirt with a kind waitress (Judy Greer) and his studio boss (Swinton), as well as developing a fantasy for Susan Orlean. Donald, on the other hand, is suave but a dope, gaining the adoration of a makeup artist (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who worked on "Being John Malkovich." While Charlie struggles with adapting a book into a movie "simply about flowers," Donald breezes through his own script, "The 3," a convoluted cheat of an exploitation thriller about a serial killer who has multiple personalities - he is also his own victim, as well as the detective who is hunting him and falling for the victim from her photos. Charlie, meanwhile, likewise falls for Susan without even meeting her - until he decides he must. So you see, 'round and 'round it goes. The metaphor of an "ouroborous," a snake eating its own tail, is an apt one - this film is like that, coiling around and around, then folding back on itself like a mobius strip. The plot is merely the surface, with layers upon layers underneath. The twist is that this film has been written by Charlie Kaufman (his faux brother Donald is, in fact, a credited co-author), and that makes this perhaps one of the most complicated and brilliantly honest portrayals of the process of screenwriting ever made - the story of this film is the story of the writing of the film itself, and the film itself is a record of its own writing, and so on. Cage gives a tour-de-force performance in a dual role as both Charlie and Donald, but it's not a stunt - he makes both characters destinct and real, despite their physical similarities. Streep plays Orlean as a bored New York intellectual (married to Curtis Hanson, who directed Streep in "The River Wild" before moving on to "L.A. Confidential," "Wonder Boys" and "8 Mile") who should be repulsed by Laroche, an all-but-toothless simpleton who thinks he should play himself in the movie version of his own story (Kaufman might approve), but she is instead drawn to him like a moth to a flame. Cooper plays Laroche exactly as I've previously described him, with a penchant for making internet pornography on the side ("they pay top dollar for 'em"). All of these characters and their fates weave and warp under the film's surface for most of its duration, and then Kaufman springs an audacious and, the more you think about it, brilliant surprise that ties everything together hilariously. The cinematography by Lance Acord is suitably slick but low-key, and Carter Burwell's music is there, never underlining until that's required, always observing in perfect anonymity. Jonze and Kaufman prove here that "Being John Malkovich" was no fluke and that they are talents to be reckoned with, capable of work far deeper than it at first appears.

Zero stars

Stephen Frears' dark, thought-provoking thriller is something akin to a neo-Hitchcockian melodrama with social issues at its core. Chiwetel Ejiofor is Okwe, an undocumented worker from Nigeria living in London who drives a cab by day and works as a porter at an upscale hotel by night, although his previous livelihood was supplied by a loftier position in his native country. He rents a spot on the couch from Senay (Audrey Tautou), a virginal Turkish immigrant who works at the hotel as a chambermaid. These two exist in a sort of shadowy underworld of legal and illegal immigrants, presided over by their lecherous and creepy boss Senor Juan, aka "Sneaky" (Sergi Lopez). One night, Okwe is called to one of the rooms to unclog a toilet and discovers something disturbing - a human heart. Unsettled, fascinated and concerned, Okwe wants to do the right thing - but is uncertain what that right thing may be. He consults his friend Guo Yi (Benedict Wong), a sharp-witted, chess-playing philosopher who works as a morgue attendant. As Okwe's curiosity increases, he discovers that everything may not be what it appears. The film, directed by Stephen Frears ("High Fidelity," "The Grifters") is noir-ish in its implications, involving a seemingly innocent and well-meaning man in a deep, dark plot that seems to involve vice, illegal organ sales and death. As a thriller, it is hypnotic in its effect. The original screenplay by Steven Knight seems to know this world so well - from Okwe and his past, to Senay and her present, and all the people who surround them, including a cheeky prostitute named Juliette (Sophie Okonedo) and a goofy Russian doorman named Ivan (Zlatko Buric). The results are beautiful, unsettling, intelligent and thought-provoking.

NOTE: Nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

The second film in the astronomically popular and universally acclaimed "Harry Potter" series, based on the books by J.K. Rowling, is yet another mystery set in the Hogwarts School of Wizardry, in some bizarre alternate universe of England, to which the title character (Daniel Radcliffe) returns. The gang's all here: the carrot-topped scaredy cat Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), the indispensable and lovely Hermione (Emma Watson), the kind Haggrid the Giant (Robbie Coltrane), and professors who vary from the decent(Maggie Smith) to the creepy (Alan Rickman), as well as the egotistical (new cast member Kenneth Branagh) and potentially evil (Jason Isaacs). The plot: Someone is writing bloody messages on the walls of the school, threatening that the "heir of Slitherin" will return and take revenge, or something, on the students and faculty - kids and pets alike are being petrified and rendered comatose and it's up to Harry and his friends to solve the mystery and stop it before it's too late. Of the new characters, I particularly enjoyed Kenneth Branagh as the new Teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts, an egomaniacal fraud who has a winning smile and a nose for a good photo-op. I also enjoyed Shirley Henderson as Moaning Mertyl, the mysterious ghost of a student that died on campus and who haunts the halls of Hogwarts. Dobby, the servant that first comes to try to keep Harry out of attending a second year, reminded me a bit of Smeagol from "The Lord of the Rings," with his odd speech and masochistic slave mentality. Chris Columbus ("Home Alone," "Mrs. Doubtfire") returns to direct this magical second installment, again refusing to edit too much of Rowling's book (per her contract). As a result, we have an enjoyable family entertainment that kids who read the book and (I guess) their parents will enjoy. It is also 161 minutes long, which is a bit longer than i personally care for my family-friendly fantasy films to take to get to the end. A confession: I am not one of those who automatically buys into the wonder and enjoyability of "Harry Potter." Sadly, I think my ability to be entertained by this sort of thing is a bit lacking. Still, this is surprisingly engaging and often fun stuff.

Writer-director Lucky McKee's brilliant solo debut is about a socially awkward girl (Angela Bettis) who grows up with a lazy eye (covered in school by an eye-patch) and who then works, as an adult, in a veterinary clinic. She is lonely, she is odd, and her best friend in a porcelain doll her mother gave her when she couldn't make any "real friends." Enter Adam (Jeremy Sisto), a Dario Argento-idolizing film student whose idea of a first date is watching his own student film, in which a romantic picnic devolves into erotic cannibalism. May sees him as almost perfect, asks if he thinks she's weird, to which his reply is "Yes... I like weird." To say he is unprepared for her response to this is a bit of an understatement. She also has a budding relationship with her lesbian coworker Polly (Anna Faris). The film mixes dark comedy with creepy undertones, romance of a similar ilk and, ultimately, evolves into a dimension of truly disturbing horror. Bettis' performance as May, in collusion with McKee's astonishingly crafted screenplay, is perfectly modulated from the beginning to alternate between putting the audience off, and yet making you feel sympathy, even empathy, not unlike a non-paranormal version of Sissy Spacek in Brian DePalma's "Carrie" (1976). By the time the film reaches its horrific, perhaps inevitable, conclusion, you've been oddly prepared yet somewhat caught unawares; it works like a dream. This is, ultimately, as remarkably intelligent and thoughtful a horror film as anyone could ever hope to see.

Bob Rafelson's neo-noir-ish thriller combines several unlikely elements to become a surprisingly absorbing and entertaining walk on the wrong side of the tracks. A cello-playing, diabetic detective named Jack Friar (the ubiquitous Samuel L. Jackson), assigned to Grand Theft Auto, is at home one night, preparing for a "fantasy camp for frustrated musicians" when he gets a knock at the door. His neighbor gives him a photo of her daughter, who has run away with some blond, blue-eyed sleazeball and asks him to find her ("finding a girl's gotta be as easy as finding a car, right?"). He goes asking questions in town, and arrives on Turk Street, only to find himself staking out a house in a rain storm. An old woman, Mrs. Quarre (Grace Zabriskie, looking and sounding somewhat akin to Ellen Burstyn around the final third of "Requiem for a Dream") comes home and he helps her with her groceries. She invites him in for a drink with her husband Mr. Quarre (Joss Ackland), and the eccentric old couple offers to look at the photo, which Jack accidentally lost. Moments later, there's a gun pointed at Jack's head and it's off to the races. Seems the old couple is a front for a small gang of hoodlums, including violent sociopath Hoop (Doug Hutchison, a veteran of many creepy TV characters), the lovely femme fatale Erin (Milla Jovovich), a Russian musical prodigy who became a prostitute, and their leader Tyrone Abernathy (Stellan Skarsgard, with a pencil thin mustache and indescribable mish-mash of an accent). Seems they're robbing a bank with help from an inside man (Jonathan Higgins) who thinks he'll get his share and leave for the Caymans with Erin by his side. Jack spends most of the rest of the film tied up, as the would-be robbers move their schedule ahead. He and Erin form something of a bond, but how much depends on how trust-worthy she is at any given moment. The film has been directed by Bob Rafelson ("Five Easy Pieces," "Blood & Wine") and follows neatly in the tradition of neo-noir. Though lightly modernized, this is owed to its origins in "The House on Turk Street," a 1924 short story by Dashiell Hammett ("The Maltese Falcon"). The film is not exactly unpredictable, nor particularly special, but simply a lean, mean example of its type - and a good one.