Ep 59 - Being John Malkovich

The Generation Splice

After a long hiatus were back! We’ve been sitting on some old recordings, but since they’re fresh to you all we’re putting them out!

This episode we follow up on EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE with another classic film of alternate realities, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH. But before we get into that Raquel asks Raphael to explain the Marvel movie phenomenon to her, so Raphael travels back to his comic book store employee days to explain all the comic adaptations because somehow, in the year 2022 Raquel has never heard the term “MCU” before. God bless her.

But when it comes to MALKOVICH, Raphael gushes. It’s a example of why 1999 was one of the best years in film. The CGI manages to still look perfect today. Raquel finds the film funny, but wouldn’t call it a comedy, despite what Raphael says. Is Catherine Keener the villain in this movie? Does this movie even have a villain? Everyone agrees that centering the film around John Malkovich is perfect because any bigger of a celebrity would make the premise too silly. Raquel draws deft comparisons to GET OUT and Raphael declares MALKOVICH queer, trans canon. Also, Raquel apparently went to college with Malkovich?! Weird, fun stuff in this one.

The Generation Splice is film podcast where retired psychologist Dr. Raquel Martinez, a Baby Boomer through & through, & her son Raphael Jose Martinez, a cranky millennial punk rocker/film writer, discuss various films through the lens of their generation & personal experiences. Every week one host picks a movie to dissect & see if they can splice together the generation gap via their love of film.

Feel free to write to us! Give us some film suggestions at [e-mail] or @gensplicepod on Twitter.

Raphael is on Twitter and Letterboxd at @citycelluloid. You can find his film writing at cinefile.info and film-cred.com