Where the Wild Things Are is a 2009 film directed by Spike Jonze, written by Jonze and Dave Eggers, and based on Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book. It stars newcomer Max Records, Catherine Keener, and James Gandolfini, and has a musical score delivered by Karen Orzolek, better known as Karen O, singer for the popular rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
The movie tells the story of Max, a young boy who stumbles into a strange world filled with large and wondrous creatures, and convinces them to make him their king. He then engages in a series of misadventures, finding out along the way the nature of the Wild Things: how they feel, what they like to do, and the responsibilities of the land in which they live. The story of the film is simple on the surface, and its narrative is amorphous and doesn’t drive the film. Instead, Where the Wild Things Are is embroiled in the moment, focusing on whatever spontaneous decision Max and the Wild Things decide to do, and what personal interaction comes from that experience. It’s acceptable to think at first that a film with a narrative built to showcase individual moments rather than drive the story ahead could be a boring, meandering mess. In this case, you’d be wrong. This film has a beautiful story, beautiful not just in how honestly and unflinchingly it captures the emotions of Max and the Wild Things, but for its subtext, for what lives just under the surface of this seemingly inspiring childhood tale.
Max is a character both striking in his simplicity and shocking in his rarity: he’s an actual kid. He isn’t wisecracking beyond belief, he isn’t uber-precocious or cutesy. He’s a kid. He’s completely self-absorbed, concerned only with his own feelings and problems, and he’s angry. He’s angry that nobody pays attention to him. He’s angry that nobody views the concerns in his life as importantly as he does. He’s angry that he’s picked on, angry that he’s ignored, angry that a new man has come into his home and tries to take the place of his dad, angry that nobody takes him, or his anger, seriously. So he acts out in the only way he can, through ferocious outbursts of impotent rage. He builds an igloo out of snow that his sister’s friends break, and in retaliation he ransacks her room, tearing apart a gift that clearly meant a lot to both her and him; his mom brings her new boyfriend (played by Zodiac’s Mark Ruffalo) in the house, and he retaliates by refusing to eat, biting her, and running out of the house, and into the land of the Wild Things.
It’s no surprise to anyone who’s read the book (or probably even those who haven’t) that the Wild Things and their domain isn’t real. It’s made up, a fantasy world for an imaginative kid to sink into. However, its much more than that. It’s a place for Max to vent his frustrations and satiate his ego. He goes into a world filled with imposing monsters who are far stronger and bigger than him, and yet he subjugates them all, exercising his power over them and becoming their leader, and they treat him seriously, reverently much of the time. Since all these characters are parts of Max’s imagination, they represent parts of him; they speak in the same way Max knows to speak, the way everyone else has spoken to and around him. When Max is still in the real world there is a scene in which he viciously berates a fence while playing outside by himself, this same kind of angry, emotionally charged language continues into the land of Wild Things, and exponentially increases, sometimes to dangerous levels. Max’s best friend amongst the Wild Things, Carol, represents Max’s explosive anger at loneliness and life in general, Ira represents his pride in the things he does, Judith represents his sadness, The Goat his need for attention, and so on. As Max gets to see his own impulses acted out by someone else, it teaches him lessons about his behavior, and as the Wild Things lose faith in their king, it teaches Max that he really needs to lighten, worry less about being the center of attention and more about being Max. The Wild Things not only help Max deal with his problems, they teach him things he needs to know about life.
The film is beautifully shot. Spike Jonze, coming from a history in music videos, has the ability to craft interesting visuals down pat. The images in this film are immaculately constructed, both technically and artistically. Many are quite complex, but are always pulled off in an extremely satisfying fashion. The Wild Things themselves are interesting and beautiful, with designs drawn up or approved by Maurice Sendak himself.
The score is equally beautiful. The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s have been one of the hottest bands in rock, on a roll the likes of which most bands have never seen, and Karen O. continues her own stretch of good luck at least with this powerful, original, and most stirring soundtrack. The songs are an unmistakable presence in the film, and the feelings they add to the story already being presented are many and deep. Possibly look for some recognition of this score come awards season.
Perhaps the film is a tad too long. Perhaps one can find complaint in its non-traditional narrative, but nobody can deny how earnest and sincere Spike Jonze’s adaptation of the classic book is, and nobody can deny how effectively it reminds us of the unbearable, yet completely and understandably human, little monsters we all were when we were young.
8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment