Alex from And So it Begins...dropped by the Escape Hatch to share one of his favorite scenes with us, a great piece from Spike Jonze's Adaptation.
When not reviewing practically every new release and spotlighting great, oftentimes under appreciated actors in his In Character feature, Alex shares some of his own favorite scenes. You can follow him on Twitter at @shiftingPersona.
The opening scene of Adaptation. is a combination of the two things I hate most in movies: extended opening credits, and narration. Leave it to Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman (and, of course, Nicolas Cage) to make something that should be so bad, anything but.
The first two minutes of Adaptation. represent one of the
greatest film openings of recent memory. Its minimalist approach (an off-camera
monologue against a black screen with Courier credits), tells you everything
you need to know about the film’s main character, Charlie Kaufman. It perfectly
encapsulates his thought process, lack of humor and pathos better than any
on-screen rant possibly could.
The monologue (which, for the record, is arguably the
funniest part of a very, very funny movie) has nothing whatsoever to do with the
film’s plot. Yet, at the same time, it has everything to do with it. Ingenious.
