Let's give you the definition first.

Solipsism. The theory that only the self exists. Or put another way, the theory that we are all prisoners of our own point of view, unable to see life from the perspective of another.

Being John Malkovich is all about disproving this particular notion. It is also wonderfully imaginative, thoroughly enjoyable and a simply amazing directorial debut for Spike Jonze. Jonze, whose prior experience includes directing many music videos, as well as bit parts in Mi Vida Loca, The Game and Three Kings. What he does with first time writer Charlie Kaufman's script simply blew me away.

John Cusack and Cameron Diaz are Craig and Lotte Schwartz, a couple in trouble. She is putting more energy into her menagerie of pets than into her husband, while his insistence on pursuing a career as a puppeteer is a strain on more than just their finances. But when he takes a job as a file clerk for a firm on the 7 1/2th floor of an office building, their worlds change.

He drops a file behind a cabinet and finds a hidden door in the wall. When he opens it and crawls down the narrow pathway, suddenly he finds himself inside the mind of John Malkovich. Fifteen minutes later, he is unceremoniously dumped from the mind of Malkovich and finds himself alongside a highway. Soon Lotte has to try it for herself and the experience of being inside of a man has her wondering if she's a transsexual.

Catherine Keener is the apex of a romantic triangle that forms with the Schwartz's. She is the object of Craig's desire, while finding herself very attracted to Lotte, but only when she is inside of Malkovich.

To tell you too much more is to give away plot points that really shouldn't be disclosed, for fear of spoiling the experience. But the best visual sequence of the film is when Malkovich realizes something is wrong and he himself goes through the hidden door.

I've always thought John Malkovich was a very talented actor, but this role gives him room to display even more of his significant "chops". He is phenomenal, particularly when others are trying to control him from within. Jonze manages to elicit strong performances from the rest of the cast, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention the strong work done in this film by Orson Bean, playing the owner of Lestercorp, and Craig's boss.

This one is a winner.