Director Spike Jonze has created a marvel. From Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's book by the same name, Jonze and Dave Eggers have written a screenplay that deepens and enriches the original book. 9-year-old Max (the amazing Max Records) doesn't know how to handle his perfectly normal (to grownups) rage, anxiety, and fear. He's only 9, after all, and how many of us grownups can handle these difficult emotions, even though we're supposed to be adults? When, for instance, Max's teen sister won't pay attention to him and hangs with her friends, Max takes on her whole crew in a snowball fight, not realizing he's outnumbered as well as outweighed. When in the ensuing battle the teens inadvertently crush Max's snow fort, burying him inside, he's not only terrified of being suffocated but also humiliated that he's unable to play successfully with the big boys.
This scene, like most of the others involving the "real" world, has an inversion later in the movie, when Max is King of the Wild Things. All the enormous furry Wild Things pile onto each other, including Max in their warm tumble. While for a moment he's in danger of more suffocation, the outcome is instead blissful, comforting, entangled sleep.
The cast includes the luminous Catherine Keener as Max's mom, and the voices of such notables as Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, and James Gandolfini. Gandolfini is particularly effective for adult audiences members, because even though he is--at least at first--playful and friendly to Max, you recognize that voice as Tony Soprano's, and you know what he's capable of.
It's a fabulous, rich, touching movie. Don't miss it.
No comments:
Post a Comment