2 posts tagged “film”

I've just finished watching a film that has been on my to-watch list
since 1996 - back when I discovered De Niro and wanted to watch
all his movies.  "Mad Dog and Glory" (1993) is not a film that
Robert De Niro is very much known for.  Nor do people talk much
about Bill Murray's untypical evil-man turn on the movie, or Uma
Thurman's pivotal leading-female role.  But there are many good
reviews and nods.  And now, finally, I have watched it!

This is essentially one of those movies about how middle-age creeps
up on men (and women) and dulls their lives: how they question
themselves and talk themselves down. "I should have become a
photographer, what am I a cop for?" And they're right: for when
something happens to liven them up, to remove that dullness, to take
that sheath off, the sword in them comes out!

So here is the plot-line: top gangster Bill Murray strikes a friendship
with cop De Niro and sends him a little thank-you gift of Uma Thurman,
for a week.  De Niro is not interested and wants her out.  But then he
falls in love with her: he is so starved and lonely and upright, and she
is, well, Uma Thurman - at 23.  But the gangster wants his gift - named
Glory - back.

The cop's world is really just an inverted gangster world: the law is on
his side, that's the key difference.  The gangsters starts the cycle, by
committing crime, and then the cops start chasing them, and they keep
going round and round, thereby underlining how very much part of each
other's world they are.  So, it was perfect that the lonely, odd-hours
De Niro (nick name: Mad Dog) develops some rapport with Murray, the
mysterious gangster chief who also does stand-up comedy.

A man in his forties, alone, has to be very strong.  There is a big
chance he will start to see his life as meaningless.  He is doing the
same old job, which he now can never leave because it is too late; he
questions his life choices; experience has taught him to be defensive
and less risk-taking; he accumulates flab; he rarely attracts the
kind of female attention he craves; and he is reduced to going
through the same exact routines and habits every night with
the same people.

That's the picture "Mad Dog and Glory" paints of Mad Dog (De Niro). 
And it takes about half-way through the film before that rather depressing
mist is lifted.  During that part of the film, it is slow, stylised, and has
a lonesome sax-driven soundtrack.

Then Glory - Uma Thurman - appears.

What do people want from their lives?  In my previous post, I proposed
"conflict" as an answer.  A conflict, that stands for something, and that
they take part in, with heart, and win.  The film confirms my answer.

Re-watching a movie you have not seen since 1999 is tricky.  You wonder if the associated memories that go with the film will disrupt the entire experience.  You worry you may be disappointed, or that you may be surprised, by new interpretations of it.  You wonder if you will be bowled over by it again.  You wonder how the rediscovery will make you feel.

"Rushmore" impressed me in 1999.  I thought it was odd; but it was so well-acted and executed, it was charming.  Bill Murray's scene where he is sitting by the pool watching his wife flirt with a younger man, and then taking a dip in the pool, always stuck with me.  The hilarity of teenage schoolboys boasting of silly things was memorable.  I was struck by how a writer could capture schooldays so well.  Wes Anderson's debut [so I had been informed] - at age 30 or just under - felt so assured, so finely-balanced, I could not really believe it was his work.  I thought the ending was unsatisfactory; I felt I was missing something.

The story in a nutshell is that of Max Fischer who has found what it is he loves and wants to do for the rest of his life: remain at school - the elite, private "Rushmore".  Max gets things done; he is president of numerous societies; he writes and directs plays for the school acting team; ... but he is well below average in his studies.  Hermann Blume, a wealthy businessman who is utterly bored with his life, gives a speech at school that inspires Max to approach him.  The two become friends, despite a 35-years age difference.  Max also falls in love with a teacher who is about 15 years his senior.

How did I feel about re-watching "Rushmore" in 2008?  I loved it.  I was ecstatic with appreciation at many points in the film.  I liked the dry humour, the simple yet deeply convincing acting, the short lines delivered at a leisurely pace, the snappiness of the editing, ...  I was impressed by how Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson were able to reconstruct life in a private school so well (I imagine the film was based on their own experiences).  To balance things though, let me say that the film does not have a message, it does not have a narrative force, it simply seduces you into its world, if you don't fall for that, you'll find the film irrelevant and uninteresting.

Wes Anderson has remained true to his beginnings.  His films continue to this day in the same way he started: odd, well-observed, sketchy, artful, laconic, ...  I am told he is like that in person.  He has left a mark already.  Does "Napoleon Dynamite" not owe something to "Rushmore"?

"Rushmore" is a film that made me want to live life the way its story is told.  I wanted to become as laconic as Max Fischer and Hermann Bloom; I wanted to look at someone and say many things without saying a word.