DVDpendence . videophile
WHERE
THE
WILD
THINGS
ARE
With
Max
Records,
James
Gandolfini,
Paul
Dano,
Catherine
O'Hara,
Forest
Whitaker,
Chris
Cooper,
Catherine
Keener,
Mark
Ruffalo
Written
by Spike
Jonze
&
Dave
Eggers
(based
on the
book
by Maurice
Sendak)
Directed
by Spike
Jonze
I remember
the
book
so well
from
primary
school
days
in the
'70s,
but
more
so the
illustrations
than
the
words
or even
the
story
as a
whole,
thus
I'm
clueless
as to
just
how
much
the
inimitable
Spike
Jonze
adapted
and
altered
the
essence
of the
story.
Max
is a
young
kid,
a loner
who
seems
to be
losing
touch
with
his
single
mom
and
older
sister.
He escapes
into
fantasy
to amuse
himself,
until
one
night
after
a fallout
with
his
mother
he runs
away,
grabs
a little
sail
boat
and
ends
up in
a storm,
stranded
on a
weird
island.
The
island
is inhabited
by huge
troll-like
creatures
with
a very
particular
emotional
outlook.
Max
becomes
their
king,
and
is drawn
more
so to
one
of them
than
the
others,
making
the
already
stormy
relationships
of these
creatures
even
more
tempestuous.
The
movie
has
a dark
and
very
uncomfortable
atmosphere,
and
I can
only
imagine
this
mood
to be
one
felt
by a
kid
on the
border
of depression
raised
by a
mom
who
also
needs
to live
her
life,
and
a sister
growing
up with
less
in common
than
when
they
were
both
younger.
Abandonment,
fantasy,
individualism,
internal
chaos
and
acceptance
are
but
a few
of the
subtexts
inherent
in this
very
unique
and
crazy
movie.
The
kids
of all
the
people
working
on the
picture
were
encourage
to be
on set,
and
certainly
had
a lot
to do
with
the
infusion
of childish
chaos
trapped
in the
movie
(and
also
the
soundtrack).
Being
a Spike
Jonze
motion
picture,
naturally
the
extra
features
are
weird
little
vignettes,
unlike
the
predictable
making-of
and
behind-the-scenes
segments
one
would
find
on a
DVD
release
(for
example
there's
a look
at how
they
struggled
to get
a shot
of a
dog
running
and
barking
at the
same
time!).
4
/ C
- Paul
Blom
0
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A -
B -
C
