Adaptation

After watching Adaptation, I can honestly say it was one of the most interesting and deep films I have ever seen. I do not want to fool you by saying this, though. Although the movie was interesting, I did not enjoy watching it in the least bit. Throughout most of it, I was disturbed and confused as to what was going on. Was his twin real or fake? What does this seemingly random scene mean? Is this or that symbolic of something? Luckily, the discussion at the end put some of these things into perspective for me.

First of all, I was surprised at how lonely and pathetic the filmmakers were able to make Nicholas Cage look. I have not seen many of his movies, but I am used to seeing him play confident and heroic roles, such as in National Treasure and The Family Man. I thought his acting was well done. I can imagine that this type of role would be difficult to play, especially since the character of Charlie Kaufman is so complex.

One of the major themes within the movie is that of adaptation (note the title). There are two meanings of adaptation expressed in the film: evolution and changing one artistic work into another. In order to better understand these definitions, it helps to know what was going on in the plot. Charlie Kaufman, a screenplay writer, is trying to write the screenplay for an award winning book. While reading the book, he loves the simplicity and reality that it expresses, but he has a difficult time making an interesting movie out of it. He does not want to change or adapt it to the screen because it would mean removing part of its truth. Although the book is a touching and realistic story, it does not have any events or happenings that would be called "exciting" by filmmakers. In other words, making the book into a film that will engage the audience is nearly impossible. Kaufman's job is to adapt the book into a screenplay, which is where the problem begins.

In the end of the film, many fast-paced events that included car chases, guns, murder, sex, and drugs plagued the screen. This last hour of jam-packed excitement paralleled to what Kaufman did when he adapted the book into a "suitable" screenplay. It shows that reality and simplicity are not always what make the best movies. Most movies are created with some sort of conflict, action, or corruption in order to keep the audience's attention. Yet the book expresses that life is not always exciting and filled with drugs, sex, and violence. Sometimes people do not act on their impulses, such as Meryl Streep's character did. Sometimes regret and disappointment are more common than having no regret or disappointment. Sometimes life is boring and unexciting. But do any of these things, although they may be true, make Blockbuster hits?