After being on the blogging site Tumblr, I have seen my fair
share of movie gifs (jifs, gifs!) of several 'cult' movies which I'd always be
interested in, but didn't want to pay to watch. So looking through the week's
TV listings, I saw that Rushmore was on TV. As I have heard a whole lot about
how great Murray is in the film, along with being interested by the gifs I had
seen, I decided to finally watch it and see what all the indie hype was about.
Let's start with the positives, the cinematography was spectacular,
and I can only imagine that is what really caught my eye when I saw the gifs in
the first place. The almost dream like filters just make you think of a teenage
fantasy... Or maybe I have been reminiscing too much about my recent loss of teenage
hopes and dreams.... ahem. The story is entertaining, but unbelievable in some
instances, I mean, who would go so far as to carry live bee's to a hotel room
to get revenge on their love rival?! (Although, I agree that is a pretty cool
way of getting revenge) The characters
were solid and well acted, I have known many people like Max (the main
character) who make up lies to appease peoples views on them, or to make themselves
seem more important than they really are, which actually really got to me quite
bad.
These strong traits are why I think I had such a hard time
liking the film, although I am not quite sure as to why Max put me off so much.
All the actions he does are what we, as misfit teenagers, wanting to be likes
and praised and interesting, do! We want to believe that the person we love
loves us back, even though we know they don't look at us in that way or think
about us twice, we know we are the awkward nearly adults but still children,
and so adults usually don't pay us, or our actions much attention unless we
fuck up. My unease with Max as a character may just be a reflection of all the
weird and awkward things I used to do and feel and say, and so it brought me
back to a time of utter confusion and parallel wonderment. Whatever the reason,
the character put me off so much that I just didn't enjoy the movie as much as
I thought I would.
I have read a lot of reviews around the film, and there are
many expressions of subtle humour, even though I, being a obscure and black humoured lady,
just didn't see at all. The movie was just a story, a very twist and turn
journey at that, with a lonely and misunderstood teen trying to fit in
somewhere where he is just one of many in the middle. I do however think the movie
highlights a huge range of kids in school, in fact, people even in adult life.
We mostly are, statistically more likely to be a middle person (meaning we are
good at the odd few things, and in the middle of everything else) than a top or
a bottom. Most of us got ok grades or reports but rarely are we masters of
everything. This film highlights this, and makes us all remember how much we
enjoyed those few things we were/are really amazing at, and how stupid,
disheartened or unmotivated we were by the majority of other things we are
forced to learn. For this, I applause the film, and think that this one theme
alone can bring a multitude of people together to sympathise with Max on
another level.
The other opposite, and character I actually loved, was Bill Murrays character Herman Bulme, who is an adult feeling the same about his life as Max is. Although he is a wealthy business man, has a family, house, all those things we all are told we want (been on a Fight Club binge, excuse me) he is unhappy, unmotivated and just bored with life. I think he is very interested in Max as he see's a huge amount of himself now, and especially as a teen in him, and as I said about the possible reason why I maybe put off by Max's character, maybe why Herman is so connected to him. What I like most about Herman's character is the fact that no matter how old we are, what we do in our lives, there will still be that awkward feeling of mystery about what we are 'supposed' to do now, and not completely fitting in. It just gives me a sense of happiness that no matter what stage of life we are at, there is that newness of being a person with endless possibilities of what we can do, say and feel. (How invigorating)
Maybe Rushmore is the reminiscing Max does after a while of
forgetting, and so actions are bolder, more surreal and the outcomes are easier
to see and defragment seeing as you are not in the moment anymore... Maybe so
many people like the film due to its nostalgic feel of their own misunderstood teenage years... Whatever the
reason, it's a worthwhile film to see in your life, however, I do not whole
heartedly recommend it myself. I am glad I have finally seen what the hype was
about, but honestly, I think I shall not be taking many more suggestions of
films to see via gifs off of Tumblr any longer.
Until next time,
Jessiefer.
