A Mirror Floating in Water

dir. Spike Jonze 2009

How endearing it is to find subtle truths about existence in such a simple way. The greatest films deal with big issues in small and subtle ways and Where the Wild Things Are is one of them. Before coming into the theater I was aware of Spike Jonze's unique cinema vertie approach to his adaption of the great children's novel, I was also very well aware of Dave Egger's writing talents and had plenty of confidence in the strength of the screenplay. What I wasn't expecting was a beautiful and utterly realistic parable on childhood and to an even greater extent, life.

The film begins, we get a series of viginettes all seen from the percpective of our little hero Max; he plays rough with his dog, he builds an 'iglo' and bombards his sister's friends with snowballs, after having his iglo smashed by the other kids and angry that his sister didn't do anything about it, Max then invades her bedroom and breaks some of her belongings. Guilty afterwards, he and his understanding working mother clean it up. From an adult's percpective Max is a troubled kid, but deep inside ourselves we all truly know and remember that frustrated and wild kid, still within us.

Another incident leads to a conflict with his mother and Max escapes into his imagination. He finds a boat and sails into a far away land. There he meet the Wild Things who are both reflections of his inner self and of the world. This island is not a perfect one, nor is it filled with evil witches or flying monkies, it is just as bleak and beautiful as the world Max left behind. Max proclaims himself a king and one of the Wild Things ask if he is able to get rid of sadness, Max answers "sure". These Wild Things are adults dealing with adult things and yet they are also children. One is frustrated with the fact that no one pays attention to him, another clings to the belief that he can be rid of the sadness that he feels. These are fully human characters in fantastical suits and CGI, they are just as real as any human can be. They are not huggable stuffed toys, they are not effects for the plot and neither are they fake, they are every bit as real as Max sees them to be.

The landscape is a paradox of joy, adventure, confusion, bleakness, despair and hope. It beautiful in that it belongs in a child's dream, though in a dream of the real world. Every set piece is stunningly desolate and beautiful, it is both joyously fantasical and darkly bleak at the same time. In the most beautiful and simple scene in the film Max and a Wild Thing named Carrol (male btw) walk across an emtpy desert. Max tells Carrol that the sun will someday die. Carrol in bewilderment looks up at the sky and contemplates. I will not describe the entire scene, but it says so much and yet is so brief, it is undoubtably one of the most magically simple moments I have ever had at the movies.

I can't exactly say what it is that the Wild Things or Max learn on their journey together, for the film is more so a series of human interactions (if I may say so) than simplistic plotlines, and Dave Eggers is too talented a writer to destroy the engimatic truth at the heart of the book. That truth somehow cannot be described in so many words without reducing it to philosophical gibberish, it is what it is and it is in the books and movie. Through Jonze's images, Eggers' writing and some beautiful performances both animated and live-action, we discover things about ourselves both dark and light. What the main truth that Eggers' is trying to convey is that anger, frustration, sadness and suffering are things common to both children and adults, and once we discover that they are the things that make us grow, the world becomes a little bit less of a bad place.