Apr. 28, 2004 - 11:42 am
ok, i've watched it twice in the past week so i figured i should actually sit down and write a review of it. Colin and i were sitting at his place yesterday and i made the suggestion that we watch this since we were talking about Bill Murray. at least i think we were talking about him. maybe i made that up. anyway, this is one of Jill's favorites, and has always been one of mine as well, so it was a good time to watch it.
Rushmore centers on Max Fischer, a student at a private school in New England, who seems to be involved with just about every club at the school, but doesn't really have his priorities straight. he lies all of the time, treats his best friends badly, and usually thinks only of himself. when he falls in love with a teacher at the school and then gets himself kicked out, he starts to rebel more than usual and goes on a spree of not-so-nice pranks, especially against his friend Blume, who he thinks "stole his girl."
over the past few years, you usually can't get more stylish than a Wes Anderson movie. aside from the hilarious writing, he also does such a great job choosing things for his films such as his cast, the vivid colors and costumes that help decorate the set, and the music that is used in nearly every scene of the films.
his use of slow motion is also very strong. the films use slow motion just enough to enunciate certain occurences in a scene, but the slow mo doesn't at all seem overused. the other film that i'm talking about by Wes Anderson is of course The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).
anyway, yes this is a wonderful film and it also throws in tons of references to past films without at all looking like an unoriginal piece of material. it takes some talent to accomplish that.