SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our THE JONZE JONES Series, Friday, January 20, 2023
LOCATION: The Secret Movie Club Theater, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021
*Please note entrance/parking is actually in the back of the building. Make a right on Wilson Street, then a right behind the building. We’re the first set of black steps after the big gate.
7:30pm BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (1999, dir. Spike Jonze, Universal, USA, 113mns, 35mm)
9:45pm ADAPTATION (2002, dir. Spike Jonze, STUDIO, Columbia, 115mns, 35mm)
Spike Jonze has created one of the most idiosyncratic bodies of American work of the last 25 years. Jonze started as a skater, then someone who made skate videos, then someone who made music videos and commercials. The hallmarks of his style – a lo-fi yet striking visual sensibility married with a hilarious yet strangely sweet humanism – are imbued in all his movies.
Off-kilter Jonze and even more gonzo screenwriter Charlie Kaufman paired together like peanut butter and chocolate with their two collaborations.
First up is Being John Malkovich about a trio of misfits who discover a portal in an old business building that leads to actor John Malkovich’s mind which they decide to exploit for profit.
If you think that setup sounds crazy and un-filmmable, you would be like the many studios who admired but passed on the script in the 1990’s. Ultimately though, Jonze, John Cusask, Cameron Diaz, and John Malkovich himself signed up and the movie got made.
Watching it is like being at a certain nexus point in late 1990’s American culture just before 9/11. While Jonze and Kaufman would both go on to even more ambitious projects, Malkovich remains a cult classic for its utter strangeness. Including an all-timer scene where the real John Malkovich enters his own head via the portal to surreal results.
Three years later, Jonze and Kaufman re-paired for Adaptation, a movie about Charlie Kaufman and his twin brother Donald, both played by Nicholas Cage, struggling to adapt author Susan Orlean’s novel The Orchid Thief.
Screenwriter Kaufman chose to make the movie more about the ACT of adapting a novel into a screenplay than an actual adaptation. He and Jonze also chose to pointedly satirize the entire Hollywood process of getting a movie made including the screenwriting gurus like Robert McKee (here played by Brian Cox) that studio execs often quote to screenwriters.
The movie still has an engaging humanity and pathos (it’s not all biting the hand that feeds it) with moving turns by Meryl Streep (as author Orleans) and Chris Cooper (as the subject of the novel).
But it’s ultimately Nicholas Cage playing twin brothers that turns into the real show stopper. You are never once confused about which brother you are watching. Proving yet again that Cage is one of the all-timers.
Join us for this incredible double bill and meeting of two cinematic singular voices. On 35mm!
Best always,
Craig Hammill
Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
*Please note that though we strive to always show titles on 35mm film if advertised, we may have to screen digitally if the print we receive is in such bad shape or if we don't receive the print in time because of a shipping delay. We will do our best to alert the audience. When this does occur, we will offer each ticket holder who chooses not to attend a complimentary ticket to a future event in exchange. (Disclaimer: Good for 90 days – Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write to us before showtime: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening, good for 90 days. (Disclaimer: Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
HELPFUL SECRET MOVIE CLUB (1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90021) THEATER PARKING TIPS:
We recommend that you park just outside our theater. Remember our theater is actually in a beautiful street art alleyway in the back of the 1917 Bay Street building. You get to our entrance by taking a right on Wilson, then a right behind the building. We are the first set of black steps on the right after the big gate.
There is also a parking lot at the corner of Mateo and Violet Street, just 2 blocks from our theater, which costs $7 per car.
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
You can follow us on Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub or Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter at secretmovieclub.com or by writing to us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.
HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.