The Movie: Adaptation is an interesting little piece that revolves around a screenwriter named Charlie Kaufman and his struggle to adapt the book The Orchid Thief into a movie... The thing is... Charlie Kaufman actually did write Adaptation (along with Being John Malkovich, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), and it actually is about his real-life struggle to adapt The Orchid Thief.

This makes for some rather interesting storytelling situations, and quite an interesting movie overall, to say the least. Including a visit behind the scenes to the set of Being John Malkovich (another Charlie Kaufman/Spike Jonze collaboration that blurs the line between the world of the film and the real world), and a deep intertwining of the story that is trying to be written... and the story of what was going on in "real life".

Nicolas Cage plays Charlie Kaufman and his (fictitious) twin brother Donald. Charlie, as played by Cage, is a complete nervous wreck who is debilitatingly self-conscious and unable to really function in society, while his brother Donald is everything Charlie is not - smooth, friendly, personable... in a lot of ways, Donald is who Charlie wishes he could be. Cage does a great job playing both roles. Chris Cooper made quite an amazing visual transformation for his role as John Larouche (for which he received an Oscar) that must be seen to be believed!

Anyway. This movie is pretty neat. And if you're looking for something a bit on the wacky side, you'll like it. I don't really know what else to say about it, really.

The DVD: Despite the fact that it's missing the usual brushed-metal look cover, this is indeed a "Superbit" release. Maybe they went without the usual "Superbit" packaging because there is no "regular" version of this DVD? Who knows. Anyways, as usual with a Superbit release, the quality of the video is just fantastic. Despite the presence of the original film grain, the picture is razor sharp, with strong, vibrant color. The high bitrate of the transfer left behind no sign of compression artifacts... it's a simply flawless film transfer.

The DTS audio was crisp, clean and clear, exhibiting the same kind of fantastic "resolution" that the video on this disc provided. Special features were on the short side (as is usually the case with Superbit DVDs as all of the disc space is devoted to maximum quality for the main feature), though they did provide a fully produced theatrical trailer with the same fantastic video transfer as the feature film, and 5.1 surround sound.

A better presentation of the feature film on DVD could not be asked for, though maybe true fans of this film might want something like a two-disc set so they could maybe get some insight into the process of the making of this film.