Jonze Scores with Wild Thngs

Well, it took eight days longer than I anticipated but on Saturday, Molly and I ducked out of the rain and finally saw Where The Wild Things Are. Here are a few thoughts …

Spike Jonze confirmed that he is a great fucking film-maker. I have long been a fan of his videos and his films, but I always thought that he perhaps was riding Charlie Kauffman’s great scripts. Well, Kauffman is nowhere to be found this go around but Jonze crushed it with a beautifully-shot film that was both true to the book and yet also was something completely different. Artistically, it is hard to find fault with WTWTA. The wide-shots, the cinematography, the set design, the costumes, the CGI stuff, the music editing ….are all great. You can’t help but watch the movie and think this is what Maurice Sendek had in mind when he was illustrating the book. So on that count, the movie is a home run.

But what I loved about WTWTA is that Jonze was able to stay true to the “art” of the book, which was no easy feat, and also fashion a story that complements the book in a very valuable way. By making the movie about a boy’s emotions, as shown through the “wild things,” Jonze has done much more than just execute a literal translation of the book. Instead, he took a shot at explaining adolescence, and growing pains and divorce and loneliness, in a way that few have done before. I felt it all worked very well and I was surprised that the reaction I had in the theatre was far from what I expected. Rather than sitting there and thinking about how much I loved the book, my thoughts took me back thirty-two years and how I felt when I was growing up.

I know some detractors are arguing that the movie is not for kids and it’s sad and it’s dark and it’s heavy. My response: Yes it was sad and no, it’s not for children. But who cares? Not everything about eight year old boys is for eight year boys.

Molly:  I'm a fan of small and quirky movies; I like mood and tone as much as I like plot (more, probably), and above all else, I want to feel a movie. I want to feel as if I'm in it. (Which is why I loved The Virgin Suicides so much, and In the Bedroom, and The Sweet Hereafter, and Wonder Boys, and...well, I'm getting sidetracked but my point is just that I'm much more moved by mood than by 'splosions and star power.)

Where the Wild Things Are is all mood. For me, it's a good thing. I liked looking at it and listening to it and marveling at the artistry of it. It's not Harry Potter or Chronicals of Narnia: this movie is not about plot. It's not about Max's adventure. It's about Max.

Max broke my heart. It goes without saying that WTWTA was stunning to look at (my favorite parts: the little clay figures carved by Carol as a nice nod to Maurice Sendek's illustrations, the frantic opening scene in which the camera tumbles down the stairs with Max) but beyond the imagery, Spike Jonze so acutely captured the angst and uncertainty of adolescense that at times, I ached watching the movie. I'm not going to lie: I liked the scenes with Max and his human family which bookended his Wild Thing adventure more than I liked his fantastic journey to the island. I loved his rumpled hair and his sadness at being left behind by his sister and hre friends, I loved him tugging at his mother, trying to get her attention. I loved his rage, his frustration, his wide eyes and his lonliness.

It's hard to be a kid. This movie made me want to be a better parent (and I'm not a parent).

The echoes of adult conversations - as heard and re-interpreted by his nine-year old mind and then personified by the Wild Things - were a sweet yet melancholy reminder of just how much children hear and remember, all without the benefit of being privvy to adult decisions and context. Without saying a word about single parenthood or divorce, Spike Jonze said everything.

I told Don that I wasn't sure if I wanted to write about the movie. I'm still not sure if I could write an actual review. But I sure liked spending time with Max.