“Being John Malkovich” | High/Low Cortisol | Meeting

“Being John Malkovich” (dir. Spike Jonze, USA, 2000) is the film at the center of this meeting, the first in the new original film series High/Low Cortisol. The series is hosted by Marta Kożuchowska, a film scholar and online creator known as O_oezu. For many years, she has worked with popular culture, film, and commentary on current events. The event takes place on December 10, 2026, at 6:30 PM at Dolnośląskie Centrum Filmowe (Sala Lalka) in Wrocław.

According to the organizers, the film's plot spirals into several questions for discussion:

• who a celebrity is, and how the cult of celebrity has changed since 1999,
• who we are, whether being oneself is valuable in itself, and what that means,
• why we want to be someone else and why other people's lives seem so appealing,
• what the film says about work that seems absurd,
• whether there is a real, stable “self,” or whether we are rather a collection of roles, desires, and perspectives.

From this perspective, the portal into Malkovich's head is not just a joke but also a literal illustration of what would happen if we could briefly live inside someone else's consciousness.

The High/Low Cortisol series combines different genres, themes, and levels of tension. Films are selected according to two criteria: high cortisol means action, suspense, and a wary, critical view of the world, while low cortisol means bittersweet films full of humor, tenderness, ordinary-yet-extraordinary stories, and human emotion. The goal of the meetings is a shared conversation about the film that helps people step out of their own bubble, learn something about themselves, and sharpen critical thinking.

Practical information: meetings in this series take place once a month.