rushmore i ♥ wes anderson MAX You think I'm spending too much of my time starting up clubs and putting on plays? MR. FISCHER I don't know. It's possible. MAX I should probably be trying harder to score chicks. That's the only thing anybody really cares about. (sighs deeply) But it's not my forte, unfortunately. MR. FISCHER It'll happen, Max. It's just. You're like one of those clipper ship captains. You're married to the sea. MAX Yes, that's true. (pause) But I've been out to sea for a long time. 080613 ... warmthofrelease I have a Mount Rushmore of films I consider perfect. Having a "Rushmore" as a concept is a fun way to make a favorites list, mostly because sometimes 4 is a better number than 1 2 3 5 or 10. The first film on my Rushmore is The_Wizard_of_Oz (1937 Garland, I shouldn't have to specify but I will anyway) because I think it's a perfect Fantasy story. The second is The_Good_the_Bad_and_the_Ugly because I think it's a perfect epic. The third is Miyazaki's Princess_Mononoke because it means so much to my sense of spirituality and the meaning of life. The 4th and most recent film on my Rushmore is the second film by Wes_Anderson which just so happens to be called Rushmore. Because I think it's the perfect tragedy. It's not entirely or even mostly a sadshow. There are a lot of bright fun humorous details and moments in the film. It disguises itself well. But it's about adolecense, insecurity, unrequited love. All those painfully relatable things. The cast is awesome the performances are awesome and the script is flawless. It is necessarily a character based film, very psychological, and it never completely breaks focus of its characters (I think there's a human being present in every frame of the film, or just about). But it also gives so many quirky details, costume designs, set design, narrative and descriptive text on screen, there's so many ideas big and small that occupy this film. But they're meticulous, purposeful, like the score of a great symphony - so much on the page but every detail matters in some way. There is never a moment of the film that has me thinking "what's the purpose of that?" Every single moment is evocative. Sometimes charming, sometimes grim, sometimes incessant, but always in a way that gives the audience more of the story. From the casting to the cinematography to the soundtrack, every detail is so refined and sets such a great stage for a simple tale with deep universal relatability and incredible emotional weight that doesn't drop on you like an anvil but drapes over you like a series of blankets until you're smothered. For as celebrated as Wes' successive works have been, really impressive films with eye popping casts and more great writing and details and execution, I still think this 2nd film with a considerably more humble cast and budget was done with a gusto charm and perfectionism that he never did manage to top. It's perfect. 250331 ... raze watching this with my dad for the first time twenty_years_ago in the house we lived in before this one was a special experience. i think every great bill murray performance to follow, from "lost_in_translation" to "broken flowers", grows from what he does here. my heart says this might be the best work he's ever done in front of a camera, comedic or otherwise. the use of music recalls scorsese in his prime, only for me it hits harder. every snippet of song on the soundtrack feels like it needs to be exactly where it is. i can never listen to "oh yoko!" now without thinking of herman and max and being moved beyond reason by the plight of two fictional characters who still feel real to me. 250331 what's it to you? who go blather from