Not under the bed
Samir Roy
Issue date: 11/10/09 Section: Entertainment
Where the Wild things Are, a film adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book of the same name, tells the story of Max, an incorrigible young man who just craves love and attention, like all people, but storms out of the house after picking a fight with his mom, who sends him to bed without supper.
He flees to an imaginary island where he meets the Wild Things, who show him a valuable thing or two that puts his real life into perspective. Though the original story consisted of few words and Sendak's own illustrations, Dave Eggers and Spike Jones somehow managed to create a feature that doesn't mangle the artistic and emotional intent of its source. The fruits of their labor successfully walk that fine line between the world of the mundane and the fantastic that characterizes youth, where snowdrifts can be forts and monsters live under the bed.
The mise-en-scene has a touchingly homespun quality that lends much-needed authenticity in this regard. The furniture, the linens, the trees, all look familiar but with the muted sparkle of something truly child-like. It seems that director Spike Jones remembers how things looked and felt at this time of life, because he visually translates the creativity, manic energy and hyperbolic sensitivity of being a kid quite well throughout, thanks in no small part to his lead, Max Records whose convincing pout both enrages and melts the audience in equal measure.
Jones treads a stylistic ground similar to Michel Gondry, (who also came to moviemaking from music videos), with the emphasis on natural light and the off-kilter Steadicam, and it works perfectly here to illustrate the perspective through which children see the world before they acquire adult experience. The self-constructed Andy Goldsworthy-inspired huts and forts the Wild Things build look both realistic and as if they sprang from the imagination of a child. The Wild Things themselves embody the basic theme of the movie simply by way of moving and acting like both people and untamed creatures (courtesy of the voice work of the actors and The Jim Henson Creature Shop).
He flees to an imaginary island where he meets the Wild Things, who show him a valuable thing or two that puts his real life into perspective. Though the original story consisted of few words and Sendak's own illustrations, Dave Eggers and Spike Jones somehow managed to create a feature that doesn't mangle the artistic and emotional intent of its source. The fruits of their labor successfully walk that fine line between the world of the mundane and the fantastic that characterizes youth, where snowdrifts can be forts and monsters live under the bed.
The mise-en-scene has a touchingly homespun quality that lends much-needed authenticity in this regard. The furniture, the linens, the trees, all look familiar but with the muted sparkle of something truly child-like. It seems that director Spike Jones remembers how things looked and felt at this time of life, because he visually translates the creativity, manic energy and hyperbolic sensitivity of being a kid quite well throughout, thanks in no small part to his lead, Max Records whose convincing pout both enrages and melts the audience in equal measure.
Jones treads a stylistic ground similar to Michel Gondry, (who also came to moviemaking from music videos), with the emphasis on natural light and the off-kilter Steadicam, and it works perfectly here to illustrate the perspective through which children see the world before they acquire adult experience. The self-constructed Andy Goldsworthy-inspired huts and forts the Wild Things build look both realistic and as if they sprang from the imagination of a child. The Wild Things themselves embody the basic theme of the movie simply by way of moving and acting like both people and untamed creatures (courtesy of the voice work of the actors and The Jim Henson Creature Shop).
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