Putting the FUN back in dysfunctional
I watched Rushmore last night, for what could have been the 10th time. You have to be a really talented director to be able to pull off that kind of movie without people getting bored to death right after the first shot. Wes Anderson just brings a kind of feel to a movie, you know? The brooding kind of movie–the type that brims over with irony and peculiarity, but at the same time being incredibly poignant and smart. The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my favorite movies and you can tell just from the first shot of the film that it’s a Wes Anderson movie. The same goes for The Life Aquatic. Not many directors have the “feel”, you know? I couldn’t tell a Steven Spielberg film from an Ang Lee.
Well, of course Brokeback Mountain‘s a guaranteed non-Spielberg.
To those new to the Wes Anderson directing business, he and Owen Wilson (Blond guy. No? Brother to Luke Wilson of Home Fries. No? Guy with the crooked nose. Ring any bells?) wrote Rushmore and it was Wes who directed the film alone. The same tandem’s responsible for Bottle Rocket, their first film, which was produced before Rushmore.
Now Election (Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein, Matthew Broderick) seems like it’s a Wes Anderson film, but it’s actually an Alexander Payne film. Alexander Payne directed Sideways (Paul Giamatti, Sandra Oh). The first time I sawElection, the name that immediately came to my head upon seeing the credits rolling was Wes Anderson. To my surprise it was Alexander Payne.
The Royal Tenenbaums…definitely one of the best films of the decade. I just love scripts that focus on the dysfunctional family. I mean, anyone who knows how twisted family life can get knows how easily pulled we can be to movies that show the gritty life behind the white picket fence on Wisteria Lane.
Wes also produced the indie movie The Squid and the Whale, with Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels. It’s an excellent movie. Extremely clever and smart, great acting, but maybe a little too straightfoward for some of you guys. I think the script was superbly written.
Wes Anderson writes great scripts. They’re not laugh-out-loud funny, but they’re clever, and may oftentimes elicit a smirk or two. The guy’s also one of my favorite directors because, like Cameron Crowe, he knows the power of the OST (official soundtrack). He throws in really excellent songs. Rushmore had Stones hits and Cat Stevens tunes. The Royal Tenenbaums had The Beatles.
It really doesn’t take much to make me happy. Just a Wes Anderson flick, ice cream and a good soundtrack will do the trick.