Rushmore!!

The first thing I have to say about Rushmore is wow!

Warning: I am about to go over many intimate details of this movie. If you have not seen it yet, please go see it and then read my review!

After having made some arrangements, to get the seventh set of letters of recommendation sent out for the latest Graduate School to which I'm applying, I went to the Sound and Moving Images Library (SMIL) at York U to take out a movie. In the biological haze of my viral sickness I searched meticulously for just the right movie to take back to my dorm and watch. I felt that I needed something light, yet satisfying. Finally I thought of looking up anything by Wes Anderson on the SMIL's search engine, to try my luck. Sure enough, I found Rushmore (please check out the link which can be found above!!) on DVD, 3 day loan.

Rushmore took me through a range of human emotion. I was amused, shocked, entertained, amazed, intrigued, angry and sympathetic.

Max Fischer, the main character played by Jason Schwartzman, presents himself as a character with an amazing drive, a conniving intellect, and the single-mindedness necessary to go as far as possible to get what he wants. In addition to the effective combination of these traits, he also has a foil: an quasi-sociopathic tendency to manipulate people in service of his goals. It is his almost Shakespearean intensity that serves to capture those around him in an inevitable storm of help, love, betrayal, hatred, defense and offense. Max Fischer is only 15 years old in the movie. He seems to see his age as more of a number than a shackle to his free will. Nothing subdues him in his drive to fulfill the whims that take his interest throughout the movie. He does everything from attempt to seduce a Grade 1 teacher at his Preperatory Academy, befriending an incredibly rich parent from the school, to getting that same rich parent in serious marital trouble.

Herman Blume, a leading support role played by Bob Murray, is a man who is bitter about having children that he didn't want and a marriage that just isn't working. He seems to get caught up by Max Fischer, if for no other reason than being around someone who seems to have drive in life. Max effects change for him. Even when that change turns out be negative on account of his marital philandering he still comes back to Max and establishes friendly relations with him.

Rosemary Cross, another leading support role played by Olivia Williams, is a first grade teacher at Rushmore Academy with problems getting over her dead husband. She befriends Max early in the movie not realizing the rocky road that lay ahead for her. She manages to stay confident throughout most of the movie, being able to handle herself without need of outside help. The relationship between Max and Rosemary develops to a point where she indeed realizes that Max's intentions are not pure. Although she states her boundaries to Max, and seems to maintain her confidence, she still decides to stay within Max' sphere of influence. I think that this decision leads her to rallying the use of her wits, self-knowledge, and self respect to overcome the multiple obstacles of Max' teenage lust, and Howard Blume's romantic interests in her.

I think that the harsh consequences which Max faces in response to his single-minded, and sometimes amoral, attitude serve to clue him in to the value of respecting himself and valuing others. Although he has lost a lot by the end of the movie, he has gained the ability to win the hearts of others in a less destructive way. Where before his pivotal change he was too embarassed to tell others that his father was a Barber, he later introduces his father with truth and respect to others like an honest person. Where before he was jealous and destructive of others stepping in on his love interests, he later calms down and stays secure that things will work out for him.

A quote from a book read by Max Fischer at one point in the movie says a lot:

"When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself." - Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Max Fischer truly shows himself to be an extraordinary person. The way he decides to be that extraordinary person is what makes the movie so colourful and intense, from black to vibrant yellow!

A stimulating movie overall!

Movie-critically,

- Inkhorn