Adaptation Analysis

Adaptation (2002)

Directed by: Spike Jonze

Written by: Charlie Kaufman (and Donald Kaufman)

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep

When I first read the logline of the film, I didn't believe what I just read. I was so confident that there was a mistake in the logline that I was reading, but when I watched the film it turned out to be true. This never happened with any other film/show and I think this in itself is something that Charlie Kaufman needs to be appreciated for. The film is about Charlie Kaufman having a writer's block while adapting a novel, yes you read that right, Charlie Kaufman writes about himself and his experiences while trying to adapt a novel and how frustrating he found that experience. This film will be best appreciated by people who're into filmmaking, screenwriting or writing. There's a twin brother of Charlie, Donald Kaufman who's writing a serial killer thriller, a genre which sells for good money. He's another version of himself whom he's trying to hate and hide all the time. Charlie wants to be unique, Donald prioritises structure, form and the rules of screenwriting and he follows Robert McKee holistically. 

Charlie Kaufman's usage of voice over is so good in this film, it feels poetic, the way they speak and the words that are written. The debate of voice over is also addressed in the film, McKee says that if you put a voice over it's lazy writing and Charlie in the end even addresses this, that McKee might hate him for this but who cares about McKee. The film shows a writer's life, a writer's insecurities and fantasies so accurately. All of the insecurities come from not writing enough, not impressing yourself with the material you've written and not having done anything worthwhile yet. The writer's fantasies are women falling for his intelligence and having sex with him for that. Since Charlie Kaufman has already faced all of these in real life, he can show all of these in an authentic way. The film is so meta that Charlie approaches Donald, the industry's writer to write the ending of the film and the ending of the film has all of that McKee preaches, conflict and high tension. The ending felt a bit off for me, till then the film was beautiful and it felt like a Charlie's movie and from there it became a Donald's movie. Meryl Streep plays the writer of the book which they option for a film and it's interesting to see her thoughts in form of voice over while writing the book and Charlie reading them simultaneously.