The Imaginative World of Spike Jonze

There are few directors who can create magical, heartfelt, and interesting worlds on screen, but Spike Jonze is certainly one of them. Beginning as a music video Director, Spike was originally contracted to come up with story lines and visual tales that mimicked the worlds being represented in artists’ songs, leading him to create original videos that featured had a touches of emotion mixed in with humor. In between directing successful music videos and cult skateboard film hits, like Girl skateboards’ “Yeah Right”, Jonze made his feature film debut with Being John Malkovich (1999), a strange metaphysical tale about a puppeteer who discovers a crawlspace in his office that allows him to embody John Malkovich’s consciousness. Sound strange? Well it is, but the film was  so captivating and well executed that it was nominated for three oscars including one for Best Director. It was at this moment that Jonze established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the Indie film world. Jonze followed up Being John Malkovich with Adaption (2002), a film starring Meryll Streep opposite Nicholas Cage about a struggling writer being driven insane by writer’s block. This sophomore effort from Jonze showed that he had a talent for telling adventurous tales, which is why seven years later he was commissioned to adapt the beloved children’s book Where The Wild Things are  by Maurice Sednak into a feature film.   Using cutting-edge CGI technology and a well written adapted script, Jonze breathed new life into Sednak’s classic tale and create a visually stunning world that captivated audiences and critics. With a strong narrative and an equally as strong soundtrack featuring Arcade Fire and the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O Where The Wild Things Are was met with critical and commercial success and was considered to be Jonze’s greatest creative achievement to date. Mary Pols of Time Magazine described Jonze’s creative triumph best in an article in which she said, “Jonze unleashes his considerable creativity. The beasts are recognizable from Sendak’s pages, but Jonze gives them names and distinct personalities that connect to aspects of Max’s psyche and to the people he loves. Freud would adore this movie. They are vast, feathered, horned, clawed, beaked and definitely wild — irrational and dangerous, even when showing affection — and Jonze uses their threatening bulk as well as their capacity for cruelty to remind us that Max’s taming of them is only temporary. For any child, it is near impossible to stay king of anything, even in fantasy.”

After the success of Where The Wild Things Are Jonze returned to his Indie roots with Her (2013), a story about a lonely man that falls in love with his personal computer. The film was Jonze’s best casted effort to date with Joaquin Phoenix, Olivia Wilde, Rooney Mara, Scarlett Johansen, and Amy Adam all starring and giving some of the best performances of their careers. Her was nominated for three oscars in 2013 and Jonze ended up taking home the academy award for Best Original Screenplay. This victory has given Indie Filmmakers hope that the Academy may begin considering more Independent features in the future, which is good news to all the Indie directors and writers whose efforts have gone unnoticed for years.

If you would like to see some of Jonze’s other works check out his ridiculous Sprite Ad from the 90s or be sure to see Her which comes out on DVD and VOD on May 13th.

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