Being John Malkovich

This maybe not an art-house film, but it is probably the most surreal Hollywood production I have seen in a while.

I knew nothing of the character or the synopsis of the film before I watched it recently. The film raises a number of questions, but only answers a few, making it confusing but still interesting.

The surreality begins with a puppeteer who finds a portal in his very low-ceiling office, which then transports him into the mind of an actor for fifteen minutes. Following this he is then shot out into a New Jersey road-side! Surreal indeed.

To critique the film without ruining it. In my opinion the film raises issues about morality and questions societies current attitudes towards sex, sexuality and living in a world submerged by celebrity culture. These are all issues that we deal with frequently in graphic design. The film uses a very creative approach to dealing with these issues, although not always direct and not always what you would expect. However these approaches could be applied in a design context.