Being John Malkovich

The fourth annual Luminato Festival is a reminder that Toronto is a city unafraid of creative risk. 

Dark Star Requiem: about HIV-AIDS, Luminato Festival premiere

"Prima Donna", Rufus Wainwright opera nixed by Met

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are successes and failures--descriptions to come--but "The Infernal Comedy:  Confessions of a Serial Killer," which opened last year in Austria and tonight at Toronto's cavernous old Massey Hall, must be chattered about this minute because it stars John Malkovich, one of the most compelling actors alive.

This weird entertainment, involving a Baroque orchestra and two gowned sopranos who act (sort of), is based on the true story of Jack Unterweger, who strangled prostitutes in several European cities and Los Angeles.  Unterweger, played by Malkovich, ruminates on his life, explains himself to the audience and hawks his book, occasionally cursing his agent, the orchestra and the venue.  Along the way, he revisits the murders of the women, who sing Italian Baroque and early Classical arias of love betrayed as he tightens their bras around their necks.

The character inhabits the same swamps of sensuous immoral slime as the ones in his movies: "Dangerous Liasons" comes to mind, as well as the eponymous "Being John Malkovich," which demonstrates that the filmmakers were similarly affected by that riveting, rancid persona.

An article on Bill Murray, in the New Yorker some 20 years ago, ended with, "I don't know what he stands for, but whatever it is, I don't want to be within 50 feet of it."  Works for Malkovich too.