Experimental Narrative

Alexander is thrust into a an uncomfortable looking chair in a pool of light. He’s surrounded by shadowy figures. They speak amongst each other in quiet tones. Alexander: What’s going on? What do you want from me? A few of the people turn toward him. They murmur indistinctly. Bartolomeo approaches and inspects Alexander closely. Bartolomeo No... No, he won’t do. He won’t do at all. Alexander Hey, what do you mean? What’s wrong with me? Bartolomeo suddenly shifts his tone. Bartolomeo What do you want out of life, Mr. Harrison? What drives a man like you? Alexander My... My name isn’t - Bartolomeo Why’d you do it, Mr. Harrison? Such a bright spark of life, taken in the prime of her life, her blooming years! Alexander Wait, what is it I’m supposed to have done? Bartolomeo Don’t try to act innocent with me, sir, her soul cries out for vengeance from beyond! He holds up a picture of a flower Bartolomeo Do you deny...

Adaptation (Spike Jonze, 2002) attempts a level of meta that I hadn't seen in a movie before. I found its implied claim of realism very interesting and had to look up which elements of the movie are true and which are not. I think that was a successful feature of this film. It was interesting that Charles' twin brother who plays such an important role in the film is completely fictitious. At the beginning of the movie I thought the whole thing would be mostly non-fiction, but by the end it got so absurd that it was clearly fictional. There's a noticeable turning point in the movie where it goes a bit off the rails. In my opinion this is the point where Charles and his brother are spying on Orlean. After the ridiculous ending of the movie I was prepared to learn that the entire thing was made up. However, I was surprised to learn the the original premise of the film, Charles attempting to write a screenplay based on the book about orchids, actually did happen and the film is...