Adaptation Review

MOVIE: ADAPTATION
CAST: NICHOLAS CAGE

A well written movie, though the last half hour seems to be too fast and overly dramatised.

Something worth noting about this movie is its creative story line. It is not the first time a movie has been made out of directors’ or writers’ own experience, but the difference here is that Charles Kaufman has merged both fiction and reality into this movie. Creating a twin brother completely in contrast to Charlie himself, he writes about his struggle adapting a book into a movie. The latter meanwhile attends screen writing workshops and finds fame over what Charlie thinks of as a “taut” story.
Nicholas Cage’s acting performance is worth an applause. Surely our primary attention is drawn towards Charlie who has been assigned to write a screenplay of Susan Orlean’s “The Orchid Thief”. Here he wants to do something different and plans to make a movie about flowers. A character observation of his twin- Donald- shows that he is somebody who sets rules and principles for writing. Charlie’s lines where he tells his brother that one can’t follow rules while one writes could be an eye opener for all those making efforts to write a screenplay.
Psyche of Charlie and Donald:
Charlie has the most commonly found human character- that filled with fear, tension and lots of anxiety. Any common or creative person who looks at Charlie would be at ease about their own behaviour towards different circumstances. Naturally, these descriptions are enough to speak volumes about Charlie. He is a person who worries too much thinking what others think about him.
Donald on the other hand has a carefree attitude and believes that “you are what you love, not what loves you and that no one has the right to take away what you love”. Donald is open to accept help from others. There are instances when he comes to Charlie to discuss the plot of his script. He even attends workshops by an eminent personality, Robert McKey.
Towards the end when Charlie is helpless as to how to start (having chucked out all the previous ones he had written) and move ahead with the story, he finally succumbs to attending the workshop.
The start of fiction, end of reality:
Charlie’s attending McKey’s workshop could be the turning point of the story. At this juncture, there is a conversation between McKey and Charlie where the former asks Charlie to put a twist towards the end.
This is where the dramatised fiction part starts and it ends with the death of John Laroche (the main source of Susan Orlean for her book) and that of Donald.
In case you forget the last half hour of the movie, this could have been an excellent movie. Not that it is not now, but the last part is like a black spot on a pure white surface.