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01/21/2005 Entry: "Rushmore"

Tonite at Voki we watched Rushmore in OmU.

Great film, cool soundtrack, and great actors. Although some in the audience felt that the plot twists were not squeezingly clever and the characters not realistically deep, I found it to be a real onion--layers upon layers. Friends and lovers are snubbed and turn sides, making the whole plot spiral into a disasterous sequence of events. Yet somehow, in a way that only happens in our dreams and Hollywood, everyone reconciles in the end by the time the climactic Vietnam War highschool play's cast party.

It is as far from reality as possible in a myriad of aspects. Young Max at the tender age of 15 has the uncanny ability to say and act exactly as you would have done, had it come to you right then and not three days later. Then he wages a tit-for-tat war against a multi-millionaire. His little chaple companion, a cute little eight year old going on 45, is like what Hobbes' Calvin would be like, had he been penned by Shakespeare in a King Learish mood. And that kindergarten teacher was so irrestistible I coulda just about bitten my own foot off.

Another thing I found appealing in this film was how much the main character reminded me of an old highschool classmate, Martin Mushrush--but hyperbolized to epic proportions.

Finally, what I found appealing in this film was how strongly it played out the theme of jealousy, something you and I know all too well about. Like fear--according to that Bene Gesserit Litany--Jealousy is indeed the mindkiller. To what lenghts might we go under its influence? And to what lengths do we at least fantasize. This film opens with a dream sequence, and ultimately, its playing out and resolution are just as much like a dream. That resolution being among other things a powerful stepping away from the clutches of the green-eyed monster.

That last idiom was from Shakespeare's Othello, by the way. That reminds me of a last note. A few people who saw my new painting asked me if it was supposed to mean something in particular. You know, the heart in the eye. A green eye. Love inextricable from jealousy. Hey, that's clever! But alas, that never occured to me. I probably used green just because it is complementary to red. So there, that's the truth. Too bad though; I use double entendre every chance I get, especially when it means twisting daggers.