Evolution is God’s intelligent design

Evolution is God’s intelligent design

Charlie Kaufman’s screenplay for “Adaptation.” (2002) is three way. It is extremely playful in its construction, it gets the story told, and it doubles back and kids itself. Also to some extent it’s true: that records the torments of a screenwriter who doesn’t have any idea how to write a movie about orchids. And introduces characters we know are based on real people and has them do shocking things.

Even the DVD maintains the illusion of life colliding with art. The case contains a Columbia interoffice memo, seemingly included by accident, not even referring to this movie. And it is startling to see an ant crawling across the main menu until you get to the dialogue line, “I wish I were an ant.”

The movie marks the second collaboration between Kaufman and director Spike Jonze; their first was “Being John Malkovich” (1999), equally brilliant. Jonze makes music videos and documentaries most of his time, but when he makes a movie, it’s a spellbinder; he has serene confidence in this Kaufman screenplay that he can pull it off.

The inspiration for this film came from “The Orchid Thief,” Susan Orlean’s best seller expanded from an article in The New Yorker. It deals with man’s fascination with these exotic flowers; blood that has been spilled over collecting them; their countless demonstrations of Darwinian theory regarding natural selection; as well as featuring a quirky Florida based modern day orchid hunter who becomes weirdly fascinating for others around him. If looked at just like that , one might think this book could have inspired National Geographic special program .

It also could have been straight fiction film about life & times of John Laroche Miami eccentric who hit upon idea collecting endangered species orchids from swampland which was Seminole territory; by using real Seminoles to get his specimens, he exploited their legal right to utilize their own ancestral lands; Laroche himself being an orchid student narrates poetic passage on limitless shapes orchids can take in attracting insects imitating shapes & colors while neither flower nor bug realizes what’s happening. Even one so strangely shaped that Darwin hypothesized a moth with 12-inch proboscis could dip down into its long, hollow tube was found.

So you see the movie could have been docu But title is pun, referring both to Darwinian principle of adaptation and the ordeal of adapting book into screenplay. Although its soul is comic, and it indulges in shameless invention, this is also the most accurate film about this process I’ve ever seen exaggerated yes but true. We meet Charlie Kaufman and his (fictitious) twin brother Donald both played by Nicolas Cage who finds subtle ways so that we can always tell them apart; they’re like twins in old joke one pessimistic ,one optimistic (“There must be a pony in here somewhere”).

The movie commences with Charlie’s voiceover itemizing his flaws: He is too fat, thinning on top, needs to exercise, has no talent, etc. So moved by his brother’s effort; Donald decides to write one himself after attending Robert McKee’s (Brian Cox) renowned screenwriting seminars. Towards McKee and Donald’s story idea which involves a lunatic and a multiple personality woman being the same person, Charlie has only contempt and immense skepticism. However, he wonders how can you put them together in one scene if one has locked up the other in the basement?

Charlie sweats blood over his screenplay. He fills his copy of the book with Post It notes and uses yellow and red high lighters to paint the text. He highlights pretty much everything. A good chunk of the movie is just Charlie reading the book to us in a sneaky way. Then he starts having an erotic fantasy about Susan (Meryl Streep), masturbating while imagining her leaning over tenderly to minister to him. He even flies to New York to meet her but can’t bring himself out of the cab.

The third major character is John Laroche (Oscar winner Chris Cooper), a swamp rat with no front teeth who lives at home with this dad and describes himself as “probably the smartest guy I know.” At one time, he tells Susan, he had the largest collection of Dutch mirrors on Earth. At another juncture he had some kind of rare tropical fish collection going on there. He’s also knows how breed rare Ghost Orchid under glass- something no other man can do so far as him or anyone else knows! Once bored with an obsession John drops it like hot brick bat; “Finished with fish.” This one got big laughs in context for sure.

Having set these characters onstage (and also a studio exec played by Tilda Swinton, an agent played by Jay Tavare, and some Indians and park rangers), Kaufman intercuts their scenes with scenes of himself creating them, and scenes from a McKee story conference. He lists all the things he hates in blockbusters: the chase, the shootings, the sex.

And now I must tread carefully, so as not to spoil surprises (everything I’ve described so far is just the setup). Without going into details, what Kaufman does is create scenes which merge fact with his creative despair; erotic imagination; very types of scene he loathes. Some of these may be libelous.

Orlean and Laroche must have signed away their lives in waivers for this movie because they never flinch no matter how wild things get-and funny too! They’re also really bold funny, like when John drives Susan through swamps in his van that could only have been “based on” something. It smells like things are growing in there because they are!

I will note that the final chapter on DVD menu is titled “Deus Ex Machina.” Wikipedia explains: “improbable contrivance in a story characterized by a sudden unexpected solution to a seemingly intractable problem.” That’s it exactly writing Kaufman out of an impossible hole by ignoring all his rules.

The performances are great. When an unknown Indian medicine is swallowed by Streep’s character, her toes twitch and she hums a duet with Laroche on the phone you think who else could have done this as well? Study Swinton’s studio executive closely during her first lunch with Charlie. While he is explaining his grandiose and inflamed ideas, she attempts to smile twice, in quick succession, each smile collapsing into a look of doubt. Very slight movements of the body. Cooper succeeds in making an obnoxious character believable as an object of love for the author because Laroche is so brilliant and enthusiastic. At first glance he would be last on any list of lovers for a chic New York writer.

And Cage. There should be a list of the top male movie stars alive: De Niro, Nicholson, Pacino usually. How often do you see the name Nicolas Cage? It should always be up there; he is brave and courageous when choosing roles; not afraid to step out onto a limb, cut it off behind him and hang there for dear life. No one else can show internal trembling so clearly. Think back to the beginning of “Leaving Las Vegas.”

Watch him in Scorsese’s “Bringing Out The Dead.” Think about “The Weather Man”‘s title character. Watch him implode in “Adaptation.” And then remember that he can also play a skydiving Elvis impersonator (“Honeymoon In Vegas”), a mad rock ‘n’ roller (“Wild At Heart”), a lovelorn one-armed baker (“Moonstruck”), a straight-arrow Secret Service agent (“Guarding Tess”) – and on and on.

He always seems so sincere. No matter how unlikely his character may be, he never mugs at us or condescends to let us know he knows better. He commits himself with every atom to believing sincerely in his character, and he plays him as if he were himself. It is largely through this gift that he succeeds in making Charlie Kaufman such a desperate wreck and Donald Kaufman such a happy success story, in the same movie.

There are superficial differences between them Charlie usually needs a shave, Donald has more hair but the reason we can tell the twins apart even in trick shots showing them both in the same frame is because Cage can tell them apart; he is always Charlie when he is playing Charlie, and always Donald when he is playing Donald. Look and see.

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