Rushmore

Very rarely can a director evoke so much awkwardness and kindness from his/her silent moments in their films. Wes Anderson is one filmmaker who can. His characters are so richly drawn, finely acted and beautifully directed, that even when they're not speaking... we can read their emotions, we feel their pain. Young Jason Swartzman gives a fantastic performance. Even nicer is the surprise turn by Bill Murray, who manages to play a good guy and a villain at the same time. In one scene he is wearing Budweiser boxer shorts on a diving board. He is smoking a cigarette and jumps, doing a cannonball into his sewer-ridden pool. We see him curled up at the bottom of his pool, drowning himself in misery. Is this a connection to his future lover's dead husband? Who knows. But what we do know is that Anderson has crafted his film to star the most unlikely of heroes. They are the oddest of the bunch, but at the same time we know what they are going through. Their oddness aside, what we learn to see more of, is their hearts. It is obvious Anderson has wiped his heart all over this piece, and it pays off more than I'm sure he ever could have imagined.

I think if you're looking for a straight up comedy, you'll be disappointed. This is not an easily classifiable film, but one that I love for its unique spin on some interesting characters. I especially like the fact that Max is not completely lovable, but in the end you root for him anyway. I found all the various reconciliations quite touching, and there's an interesting emphasis on friendships between people with lots of differences. Max's sidekick is younger than him, his crush is on a teacher much older, his friendship with Bill Murray's character who could be his father. Lots of heart here.

Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) is an odd friendless teen at a private school with lots of useless extracurricular activities. He get put on academic probation, and falls obsessively in love with elementary teacher Miss Cross (Olivia Williams). He befriends an equally odd wealthy Herman Blume (Bill Murray), the owner of a pipe company. She dates Dr. Peter Flynn (Luke Wilson) which raises the ire of Max. Then Herman becomes infatuated with the lovely teacher and Max gets kicked out of private school.

These are truly uncompromisingly odd characters. They are a quirky unconventional group. They are not immediately hilarious but funny in how wacky Schwartzman gets. The dialog is sharp with a lot of unusual Wes Anderson takes. Bill Murray extends his range starting an acting relationship with Wes. It's a wonderful move forward for Wes and friends.

As I watched this film, I couldn't help but find brief and twisted similarities between Max Fischer's school days and that of Edward Albee of 'Who's Afraid of Virgina Woofe' fame. Before you laugh let me explain:

Max recieved a scholarship for a play written in childhood, showed significant reluctance to follow the curriculum, and rather chose to pursue his own interests, especially play writing.

Edward Albee, in most of his biographical information, comments on his difficulities in school, and dropping out of college after about a year and a half, to focus on his writing. Further, Albee's work became recognized at the early age of thirteen when he wrote 'The Zoo Story'.

Max was not from the wealthy family as Albee was. Although, the greater than $10,000,000, Herman Blume, (dissatisfied with the conventional, insensitive , sterotypical jock, twins of his own) "abopts" Max as a surrogate son.

The father of Max was reminiscent of Thorton Wilder who encouraged Albee to follow his instincts and become a play write.

As we leave Max he has written his successful work 'Heaven & Hell', his stage production of 'Apocalypse Now'. At this point in time, this is Max's theatrical master piece, his 'Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolfe', if you will.

Also, don't forget the name of Miss Cook's deceased Edward Appleby...

Now, for those of you who have never been mistaken in reading the undertone of a movie, cast the first stone. I would welcome the comments. For those of you few that may agree, please let me know, possibly there are more correlations.





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Wes Anderson's first big success came with "Rushmore," released in 1998.

And with approval I can say that it is a funny movie. With characters like Max Fischer (played by Jason Schwartzman) or Herman Blume (played by Bill Murray), it features two unique and compelling characters. They made me really laugh several times. Especially in the first half of Max with subliminal jokes.

It's an unusual plot. Sometimes with humor, sometimes with full seriousness, about love and friendship to ambition and passion. Although the plot does not always follow the same direction and digresses from time to time, nevertheless, development in character and plot can be seen.

It is a film of the classic kind. Anderson's unique film style as in "Grand Budapest Hotel" or other films is not yet pronounced. Nevertheless, the film is produced in a high quality.