Tribute to Charlie Kaufman

As an aspiring short story writer, I have come across many personalities that truly show how much imagination the human mind is capable of. Charlie Kauffman is one of those rare, truly gifted individuals, who can be ranked alongside Jules Verne and Arthur Clarke in producing some of the most truly unbelievable ideas for the world to wonder about.

I have seen both Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind before, without truly appreciating how such ideas, commonplace though they might be, can be woven into a tight knit story. And tonight, it was a revelation. Watching BJM for the second time, sparks of genius become truly apparent. There are very few examples outside Kubrick's masterpieces, including the Matrix 1 (2 and 3 degerated into mystic nonsense and graphic stunts), Fight Club, Seven, Pi, AI and Requiem for a Dream. These two masterpieces manage to infuse the same amount of intensity into outworldly ideas.

BJM is a movie that makes you sit up and take notice. John Malkovich (playing himself) is brilliant and versatile, letting the viewer actually see him lose control and assume another personality. John Cusack becomes the puppeteer he plays in a great supporting role and the Maxine woman exudes evil, unlike Connie Nielsen's failed attempt in the Devil's Advocate. But what really clinched it was the cinematography and the direction of Spike Jonze (don't ask me - never heard of him before this), who is apparently Sofia Coppola's ex... In the first movie he has made (and going by his record, probably the only one he will ever make), Jones brings Kauffman's disturbing imaginations to life. The 'from-within' scenes, and the use of some amazingly skilled camera angles, to actually make it look like Cusack or Malkovich were world-class puppeteers were very well done.

Charlie Kauffman and Darren Aronofsky are the kind of writers Indian cinema so desperately needs, in its search for materiel beyond rich-girl-loves-poor-boy stories.