Monsters

In support of 826 Boston, the 2nd floor of 34 Robeson attended an advance screening of Where the Wild Things Are last night. Author and screenwriter Dave Eggers and Oscar-winning actor Chris Cooper (the scary dad in American Beauty) spoke before the film, and there was a charming video of Martin Sendak, author of the original children's book, recounting a story from his youth. Eggers talked a little bit about how he and Spike Jonze spent the last 5 years unravelling the 388 word (or something like that) book into a feature film. I was pleased to hear that naps are a big part of Jonze's creative process. Got to love Eggers for letting you in on those special details.

So was is good? Yes. Should you see it? Fo sho. Is it the best movie ever? I didn't think so. I actually felt like there might be something wrong with me when I walked out of the theatre and found that I was the only person without tears in my eyes. I was less into the story and more impressed by high quality of craft.

Being a Spike Jonze film, WTWTA was artistically mouth-watering. That man did not spare one detail. (His budget for this film is estimated to be between $80 and 100 million.) I would watch it again for the cinematography alone. Each scene is like a weird but very well composed earth-toned photograph. The settings shift between an Australian forest, massive desert mountain, ocean and a huge fort made of sticks, among other awesome dream-like landscapes. And the sound! The banging of Max around his house as he chased his dog, the sighs of the monsters. I was distracted by the attention brought to even the smallest sounds in this film. I love it. And if that raving wasn't enough, I couldn't get over the incredibly realistic facial expressions of the monsters. They were so good that I knew the actress playing the character of KW was actress Lauren Ambrose, before I even heard her voice. This is partly because I spent much of last winter watching Six Feet Under episodes (she plays the little sister Claire), but mostly because the monster's face moved just the way hers does. Amazing! My guess is that the monster suits use computer technology to read the faces of the actors inside. I haven't been able to find a good article on this yet so I hope Jonze elaborates on the technology after the film comes out in theatres next week. Until then, read more about Jonze and WTWTA in this NY Times Magazine piece.

After the film, we went to a pretty sweet funk show at Wonder Bar in Allston. More on that soon.