Review of Rushmore (1998) by Shane S — 15 Jun 2010

Wes Anderson is one of the greatest film directors alive right now. Some people attribute a W.A. fetish for my love of grunge, Woody Allen, and Wes, but it's not that. They all appeal to me for different reasons. For grunge, it's the overall sound and its poppy structure. For Woody, it's his dry wit even in very dark films. For Wes, it's the fact that he makes better black comedies than Tarantino, Kubrick, and Almodovar - why? Because he makes them so realistic whereas Kubrick relies on a hyperrealistic world and both Tarantino and Almodovar rely on hyperbolic sex and drug use to make their worlds a little less safe.

This is a testament to Anderson's power. This box office flop from 1998, thought by the studios as Wes Anderson's breaking point, successfully tells the tale of flawed hero/uber-showoff/apathetic student Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) and how he gets himself into a very strange predicament when he tries to find companionship in a steel magnate (Bill Murray) and a teacher (Olivia Williams), hoping that they wouldn't meet. It does that not only with exceptional performances from all actors, but it succeeds via its mise-en-scene, its script (written by Weasel and Marmaduke themselves), and its appeal.

I first heard of Rushmore via furry comic artist QuetzaDrake (Furthia High), when he attributed it as one of his characters' favorite films (and as expected, that character is a slacker writer) - I thought "meh. Citizen Kane is totally awesome." However, I think this film and others like it should make it reevaluate how we think of the so-called classics. For one, I think Rushmore left all your classics (Sunset Blvd., The Shawshank Redemption, Easy Rider) in the dust because it improved. It's not as melodramatic as Sunset, nor as giddily moral as Shawshank, nor as disjointed as Easy Rider. It simply is a film that flows naturally - a film bold enough to use some cinema vérité to show us how our characters feel - a film that dares us to think about how even the most idiosyncratic of characters can ultimately change our society for the greater good.

But don't take my word for it. Take Martin Scorsese's, who sees that this film is better than his own work. Take Pauline Kael's, who recommended the film to every critic he knew. Take AMG's, who calls this Anderson's magnum opus.

Well, it ain't no Fantastic Mr. Fox, but it's very, very close.

I recommend this to anybody. Even if it is R for "language and some nudity", there isn't any nudity to account to (it's more or less to give the feel of a wrap party - and it's just a bunch of centerfolds) and the language is pretty juvenile, even if does contain about eight f-bombs. For anybody not willing to watch Tenenbaums because "it's so boring" or Mr. Fox because "lol furfags", then watch this. Not because Campy Hamachek or Travis Bickle or Stephen Erlewine said so. Because I said so.