Perhaps the crux of Wes Anderson’s career, Rushmore, released in December of 1998, is a cultural touchstone. Starring two of Anderson’s muses, Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman, the film follows an eccentrically ambitious private school student, Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman). In his determination to conquer extracurriculars, he subsequently fails all of his classes and is kicked out of the school. By chance, he meets two demoralized grownups, entangling himself in their lives, for better and for worse.
Anderson cracked the code with this movie. It would go on to become a blueprint for his later films which share a common theme in which frustrated adolescence clashes with morose, perpetually drab adulthood. Sporting a witty dialogue and a killer soundtrack, this movie encapsulates the essence of a pure, wild pubescent psyche. It’s a moving story that captures the liberation of youth: the spontaneity that is lost to adulthood. This is where the power of Wes Anderson’s films; he makes the mundane into the magical. Rushmore serves as a starting point for his career and that classic “Wes Anderson style” that the world has come to love.
This film is a wonderful precursor to Anderson’s soon-to-be-released film, The Phoenician Scheme, which is set to hit the box office on June 5th. If you’re in the mood for a classic, heartwarming (and aesthetically pleasing, of course) story, watch Rushmore,and be engrossed in his dreamy little world.
