The Last Movie You Watched

[Sal]

Adaptation (2002) - 9/10

A masterpiece written for the screen of the book "The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean, by Charlie Kaufman.

It has a profound quote near the ending of the movie, but I think I will spoiler it along with my thoughts on the movie. If you haven't watched the movie, go do that before, because I think the quote will ruin the experience if you intend to watch it, so:

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Hide-ception. Last chance to watch it before you spoil the movie for yourself, in case you haven't watched it ...

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I wasn't kidding.

Donald Kaufman: I loved Sarah, Charles. It was mine, that love. I owned it. Even Sarah didn't have the right to take it away. I can love whoever I want.
Charlie Kaufman: But she thought you were pathetic.
Donald Kaufman: That was her business, not mine. You are what you love, not what loves you. That's what I decided a long time ago.

The central theme of the movie, from what I gathered in its meta-narrative, is about disappointment and basically unfinished business. That Charlie Kaufman took some liberties, mostly in the 2nd half of the movie, diverging from the source material in the book, just made the movie considerably more deep.

Also, all the self-referential stuff in the movie is quite funny, without becoming trite. Think about it, the screenwriter, in an almost schizoid fashion, wrote himself into the movie that he, himself, was trying to adapt to the silver screen. I found that layered approach quite funny, and he just ran with it and made up an entire fictitious identical twin brother to match.

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