SLFS Summer Showdown: Being John Malkovich vs Seven

This might come as a shock to some readers, but I, Yonni Uribe, resident SLUG film bro, have never once in my 26 years of life sat through an entire viewing of the legendary film that is Being John Malkovich. While it’s been on my carefully curated to-watch list, it’s never been a priority until this year’s Summer Showdown at my beloved Broadway Center Cinemas. While I went into the film with no expectations, as it is hard to trust a cringey film bro’s opinion from time to time, I can say with certainty that Being John Malkovich is almost a perfect film. 

Being John Malkovich follows downtrodden puppeteer Craig Schwartz (John Cusack, Say Anything, 1408) living in the big city with his pet-crazy wife Lottie (Cameron Diaz, The Mask, There’s Something About Mary). When Craig cannot find breakout work as a puppeteer, he finally gives way to pressure from his wife and gets a corporate filing job in the Martin-Flemming building on the seventh-and-a-half floor, a floor which has a shorter ceiling than average office spaces. It’s on that very floor that Craig discovers a tiny Alice in Wonderland-esque door that leads him into the mind of actor John Malkovich for 15 minutes at a time before being ejected out into a grass median of the New Jersey Turnpike. Craig decides to capitalize on this with his beautiful office crush Maxine (Catherine Keener, An American Crime, Get Out) and together they start charging people to enter the mind of John Malkovich.

While the plot sounds like some convoluted Ryan Murphy shitshow, Being John Malkovich works so well it almost makes me angry. A first from writer extraordinaire Charlie Kaufman (Syndoche New York, Adaptation), the film’s outlandish plot works so well for the delivery of a story that is about inadequacies and the yearning that young folks feel when looking at their peers’ achievements in life. It is a story that still resonates and holds up when reflecting on current times as a young person now. The only flaw I see in Being John Malkovich is its ending, as I viewed it in a different way than I believe the director intended due to the vagueness that permeates most of the film, though upon deep-diving into the movie later I understood and actually enjoyed the ending that was given to us. 

“WHAT’S IN THE BOX??” Not a dick, that’s for sure! Oh Seven, who amongst us doesn’t have fond traumatic memories of their very first viewing? Sickened with every twist, turn and deadly sin. Love him or hate him, David Fincher is definitely the man when it comes to the neo-noir crime thriller genre. That being said, it is wild to rewatch and see what is just a drop in Fincher’s ocean of filmography and talent. Seven is a knockout film that has everything a viewer could ever want: gore, sex and existential dread. De-lic-ious! 

Seven begins by following Detective Lieutenant William Somerset (Morgan Freeman, Shawshank Redemption, Driving Miss Daisy) as he nears his retirement from the force. During his final week, he is paired with rookie Detective David Mills (Brad Pitt, Fight Club, Meet Joe Black), who has just moved to the big city with his wife Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow, Emma, The Royal Tenenbaums) from their small town. On our dynamic duo’s first Monday together, they are sent to check out a case where a heavily overweight man has apparently eaten himself to death. Upon further investigation of the scene, the word “GLUTTONY” is found written in grease behind a refrigerator. Somerset realizes this is going to be too big a case for his last week and asks to be reassigned, which is denied. The week progresses, and the two realize that the killer has based their crimes on the seven deadly sins, as their next assignment leads them to a dead attorney forced to cut a pound of flesh off his body to atone for his “GREED,” a word which is written in blood on the carpet. Each murder ups the ante, and the two are forced to race against the clock before the killer can complete the last of the seven deadly sins. 

In all technical aspects, it’s an impeccably made film; I love nothing more than the flair Fincher exudes when he is in his element. Though past all its glitz, glam, bits and bobs, Seven is just a damn fun time. Part of me has FOMO (insert cringe here) for missing out on what watching Seven in a crowded theater must have felt like back in ‘95. Despite me not being alive for the initial wave of Seven screenings, it’s easy to see how it must’ve renewed and reenergized the crime thriller genre as a whole. Rewatching the film as an adult, I can see where my other favorite crime thrillers picked up some of their inspiration. No matter who you are, or what you’re into, Seven has something for everyone.

When I first saw these two paired up for a weekend for SLFS Summer Showdown, I remember saying out loud, “What an odd pairing.” I mean, talk about two films on the opposite end of the spectrum! Though when I got to the ending of Seven, the similarities between it and Being John Malkovich stuck out like a sore thumb to me. In Being John Malkovich, you have this incel puppeteer who thinks that he’s a genius undiscovered, and the only way to overcome his inadequacies and do something with his life is to forcefully push his way into someone else’s. The same thing can be said about our John Doe in Seven. These are two lonely losers who ruin the lives of those around them because – at the end of the day– they are not the men they believe they are destined to be, and for that everyone around them must pay. It feels almost impossible to compare the two despite these strikingly similar narratives, though if I had to pick… Seven will always have a softer spot in my heart. Sorry, John Horatio Malkovich! —Yonni Uribe

Read more film reviews by Yonni Uribe:
Film Review: Obsession
Film Review: Hokum

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