Rushmore. was the last film I watched. let's talk a little bit about this Fucking film.
people tend to look at Wes Anderson's films and, depending on who they are, either chomp at the bit to see them or vomit a little. naturally, me being me, I'm the former. the things people remember his films for are their twee aesthetic and general quirkiness. that's it. what people tend to overlook is how fully-formed the characters are, how entertaining the narratives are, how fucking gorgeous the cinematography is, etc. people think that the twee-ness overshadows all of these things. in this case, people couldn't be more wrong. you know?
now, let's get to this film in particular. this was before Wes had really made a name for himself, as it were, having had only one film to his name prior to this -- the low budget, weird comedy / heist film Bottle Rocket. in the grand scheme of things, an inconsequential film. I guess. reportedly he then wrote this shit up (Rushmore, that is) and sent the script to Bill Murray, who liked it so much he said he'd do it for free. I don't think he actually did end up doing it for free, but I digress. in the lead we've got an 18 year old Jason Schwartzman probably giving the best performance of his career, if his track record / the other films of his I've seen are to be believed.
regardless, the story's kind of a now-typical Wes Anderson-type thing. the main character, Max Fischer, goes to a super preppy & ""prestigious"" high school that he's flunking out of. now, he's not stupid or anything. but he runs / is involved with some 20-25 extracurricular activities, so many that his academics are kind of. well. trash. they give him an ultimatum -- improve your grades or You're Fucked Mate. he opts for the former. unsuccessfully. he's expelled soon because he starts the demolition of a baseball diamond in an attempt to build a giant aquarium for the school. this isn't before he falls in love with a 1st grade teacher and establishes a weird relationship with Bill Murray's character, Herman Blume, a disenfranchised middle-aged industrialist who hates his kids and doesn't much care for his wife.
regardless, shit happens from there. the reasons I love this movie as much as I do are Plentiful, but first & foremost, it's easy to relate this to experiences I've had at school, with my Peers, etc, even though I like to think I'm nowhere near as much of a douche as Max is. even though none of this shit has actually happened to me it's easy to see a 15 year old Max drunkenly tell the aforementioned 1st grade teacher, Miss Cross, that he's in love with her and be able to transplant myself into that same uncomfortable situation. or when he's walking out of the elevator in slow-motion while a Who song plays, sticks his gum on the wall & brings the crate of bees into Herman's room, it feels like it's straight out of a Tarantino film or something way cooler than Wes Anderson probably could ever coax out of his actors & stories. it just works. regardless of how relatable it is. regardless of how inherently ""likely"" it is, or anything like that.
the film is mostly a comedy up until about the halfway mark when things get a bit more solemn, I guess. Max starts smoking. Herman breaks up with his wife. neither of them have seen Miss Cross in months. Max drops out of school. etc. as winter falls, Max's life takes a turn as he finds himself devoid of anyone that he could call a friend and starts working at his father's barber shop full time. the song "I Am Waiting" by The Rolling Stones soundtracks a lot of this shit. it's beautiful. then he turns himself around and writes a huge, bombastic, over-the-top play and reestablishes himself as pretty much everything he was before, which may seem unlikely or contrived or a cheesy happy ending but it reduces me to a soggy mess, like, every other time I watch it, so there's some definite power in that. Wes Anderson squeezes profound emotion out of ridiculous, 15 year old situations. this is an achievement in and of itself.
this is not a compelling write-up but I've seen this film like 7 times and it just gets better and better for me with every rewatch. I hope you watch it and love it, unlike this Fuck above me. challenge my ideas. challenge my words. tell me I'm wrong. tell me I'm stupid. don't read this. it's up to you. my favorite film of all time.
