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J The'ripe vessel' opens to Columbia theaters by Kevin Langston Encore Editor OF 4444 STARS Art and originality are so underappreciated in today’s job market. Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) is an unemployed puppeteer looking for accep tance in the job market, but he isn’t getting through to anybody. While he is content with performing skits in his shop room, he wants to share his tal ent and art with the world. Sadly, the world won’t budge. So what is a young man who is exceptionally talented with his hands going to do to make a liv ing? Wirk at a filing firm. Schwartz answers a clas sified ad calling for people who are good with their hands. Tucked away on the seventh-and-a-half floor of a laige downtown business firm, Schwartz finds a use for his fast hands. He likes his job and is more or less content. However, he is still incomplete. One day, while handling an exceptionally laige stack of files, one falls behind a filing cabinet. Schwartz pulls the cabinet-out, and when he does, he finds a tiny, closed door. He pulls open the door and finds that a long tunnel has opened out before him. Where most people would probably turn around and ignore their curiosity, Schwartz pushes on. . He makes it a few feet before he starts slipping down the tunnel. The viewer then sees what Schwartz sees: the world through the eyes of ac tor John Malkovich. The tunnel leads to Malkovich’s head. Schwartz watches Malkocvich eat his brekafast before he is suddenly spit out on to the side of the New Jersey turn pike. From there, this movie takes several odd twists and turns be fore its end. Schwartz and co worker Maxine (Catherine Keen er) start a business where people can enter Malkovich’s head. You would wonder whether Malkovich ever suspects some thing is wrong when people keep entering and exiting his cranium. Let’s just say he finds out about it, and the resulting experience is bizarre and hilarious. The plot gets somewhat intri cate when Schwartz’s wife, Lotte (Cameron Diaz) and Maxine fall in love, to the dismay of Schwartz who is also infatuated with Max ine. How would the twisted love triangle be earned out? Through poor John Malkovich. To avoid giving too much away, I’ll just ask you if you can imagine what happens when a crafted puppeteer has enough drive to get what he wants out of life. This movie, by far, is one of the most original I have ever seen. Friends and I can usually detect a source of inspiration when we see a movie. We’re stumped on this one. Director Spike Jonze might be more famous for his Beastie Boys “Sabotage” and Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” music videos, but this movie should turn the heads of movie fans and critics alike. Jonze delivers this crazy story with a brilliance and dedication that add power ful effect. Cusack is usually a strong actor, and he pulls through in this performance, as well. He brings the eclectic and eccentric sides of people out in a very believable and calculated way. Diaz, who tried to ditch the good looks in this role, delivers a superb perfonnance as Schwartz’s odd wife. She is rumored to have made herself up in such a manner so her looks would not get in the way of her acting perfonnance. She does a good job making the viewer look past her face and fo cus on her character. Keener was nominated for a Golden Globe, and rightfully so. In a cast of solid performers, she stands out. Her character invokes emotion from the viewer, and that is a sure sign that she is doing her job. Malkovich does an outrageous job portraying himself. You might think it s an easy job, burjest you try acting normal in front of several cameras and crew members. The cast of “The Real World” can’t do it. In a role that should be his most treasured and beloved will probably not make it onto the Oscar ballot. Though he is playing him self, he does a great deal of acting. You ’ll see what I mean. This movie, while crazy and hilarious, does have some pressing issues underneath it. The idea that everyone wants to be a celebrity and that be ing a celebrity is the key to happiness and accep tance in this society are dealt with in an uncanny manner. Malkovich becomes a medium through which all these selfish and nonredeemable char acters can carry our their desires and dreams. You laugh at it all, but you feel sad for these shaljcw characters, and especially for Malkovich. But don’t let this get to you. Enjoy the expe rience, and give Jonze and company their due cred it. Photos courtesy of Gramercy Pictures (Above) Director Spike Jonze discusses a scene with John Malkovich. (Top right) John Cusack and Catherine Keener are co-wokers on the seventh-and-a-half floor. 'Object guitarist' Williams wows Gallery 701 by Jonathan Dunagin Gamecock Critic In an effort to broaden Columbia’s musical horizons, Gallery 701 played host Thursday night to avant-garde guitarist Davey Williams and open ing act Mandible, a show that will not easily be for gotten. To call it interesting would be an understate ment and to simply call it experimental wouldn’t do the show justice. After viewing the performance, it is easy to understand why Williams calls his style of improvisation “object guitar.” In his show, the guitar is not so much the producer of music as the amplifier of sound caught in other objects. This included a wide array of items, ranging from a child’s toy guitar and a wood saw, to a vi brating Mr. Potato Head and a handheld voice syn thesizer. Williams, along with percussionist Kevin Green, constantly innovated and came up with unique and original sounds from their plethora of “toys” onstage. And the entertainment didn’t stop there. In ad dition to being great sound manipulators, the two were accomplished musicians and would go off on musical tangents that rivaled that of any great jam band. In addition, the duo accomplished all of these feats while also managing to entertain and thor oughly amuse the crowd with their hilarious an tics. In hindsight, it is better to think of the per formance as an artistic experience rather than as a musical show. They were there not so much as to demonstrate their ability as to convey a messqge and inform people of what can be accomplished through ingenuity. And Gallery 701, which showcases a wide range of artistic expressions, including painting and sculp tures, was the perfect venue for the performance. In support of Williams was Columbia’s own avant-garde musicians, Mandible. Their odd arrangement of sound and gibber ish noises projected through a toy mega phone was the perfect introduction for what was to come. They, too, canried an artistic theme with them, with the first half of their show being devoted more toward the abstract and the second half more to ward a musical base. They even came with their own “artistic piece,” Bonecrusher. Overall, the show was a tremen dous experience for everyone involved, including the performers and the au dience. Jason Mullinax, a member of Mandible, put it best when he said fol lowing their performance that I had n’t seen anything yet. And boy, was h right. Jonathan Ounagin The Gamecock Davey Williams used an array of items with his gui tar during his Thursday night performance.