Adaptation.

I think most year 11 media students have heard of this film. Only because it featured prominently in the screenwriting section of the curriculum textbook. This was my only experience with the film before the screening, and I must say, despite the trendiness of bad-mouthing Nicolas Cage as an ‘over-actor’, I found the film quite enjoyable.

My only fault with the film is its rather bloated biological references. It uses these references (as do many films) as a way of affirming that the themes and ideas contained within are primeval and thus fundamentally true. It is really somewhat of a gimmick now days, but when the film was made the technique was most likely still in infancy.

Nonetheless, I appreciated its meta-approach to the story, a story that is, in reality,  an intriguing synthesis of two extremely different ones, yet the film wove them together with mastery. I appreciated the overlooked feat of making two identical characters appear on screen simultaneously and the films over-arching theme of inspiration and passion. It is the perfect film to kick of a course in adaptation; a story about the adaptation of a novel to film. And the screenplay that is being written within the story of the film turns out to be that of the film itself. Confusing yet delightful is how I would put it.

Header image by Michael Firus using elements acquired royalty free from Graphicstock.com