Friday, August 07, 2009

Where the Wild Things are

I think we need to talk about how this might turn out to be the greatest movie ever made - especially if it does what I think it's going to do with Max's relationship with his parents.

Trailers here.

4 comments:

Lulu's Body Art said...

After seeing the trailer, I have to say, it does not make me want to rush out and see the movie.

Though the book, of course, is a favorite, you have to wonder how someone makes a two hour movie out of a five minute book.

Morgan Davie said...

There is a sturdy block of opinion that doing anything at all with the child-parent relationship will diminish the book.

I am unconvinced - depicting a relationship didn't hurt Labyrinth after all - but I'd be interested to hear where you're coming from on this.

hix said...

This is fascinating - I totally didn't expect disagreement.

OK, here's where I'm going with this: The key titles in the trailer describe the monstrous world that Max ends up in as something like "Imagine a world that contains everything you've ever seen, everything you've ever done, and ...

... everyone you've ever loved."

From what I can infer from that trailer (and as a plot point, it's semi-hidden), Max's dad is dead before the film begins, and Max is living alone with his mum. (Maybe this is in the book - I can't remember).

That means that the main monster (that James Gandolfini is playing) may well represent Max's dad. The entire time that Max spends in the fantasy kingdom is about him developing his relationship with his father. Which means that the decision to leave now has really heavy emotional stakes ...

... and makes the pursuit of Max as he escapes back home really interesting.

I dunno. Maybe it's the combination of:

+ Arcade Fire's music on the soundtrack

+ the return to childhood / use of imagination stuff

+ the possibility of a father-son story

... but all those three things and the loose, matter-of-fact style of the cinematography get me optimistic about what this movie could be. A simple, playful, and deeply felt story that'll make me cry.

And even if the film does suck, at least I'll have the trailer that's created this hypothetical perfect movie in my head :)

Morgan Davie said...

hix - yeah, that makes a lot of sense, especially given who wrote the screenplay.

That sounds like a good film to me :-) And the energy of the trailers is totally engaging and uplifting.