‡ Yes, that’s me!

• Similarities: I thought the movie really captured the look of the book well. I also thought the message of the book was retained in the movie. Imagination can be a powerful force for good.

• Good Difference: The movie was a lot darker than the book. I think the subject matter of the story (how to cope with the harsh realities of life) is well-suited for a serious treatment, and I am not at all opposed to the same narrative being handled in two different works of art intended for different audiences. The book was light-hearted and whimsical, appropriate for children and adults alike: the movie was heavy and thoughtful, probably more appropriate for adults.

• Bad Difference: The movie was a lot longer than the book. I didn’t mind the expanded elements of Max’s back story as much as I thought I would: if anything, the movie should have expanded that part of the story even more. The trouble is that the story entrenches you firmly inside a child’s imagination, and that’s a very strange place to be for ninety minutes. In the book, I can smile as Max tames the wild things by staring into their eyes without blinking; but in the movie, the long discussion about double re-crackers was just too much for me. I found the portrayal of childhood to be honest and insightful — but also very tedious.

All in all, Where The Wild Things Are is probably one of those genius films that is just not that enjoyable to watch.

Update: Orson Scott Card, the author whose Alvin Maker series I am currently enjoying, posted about this movie on his blog. I certainly appreciated some of his comments:

• “It’s an art film — which means that it is deliberately strange and unexplained.”
• “I have never seen a more nakedly honest treatment of childhood anywhere, ever.”
• “The actual story and relationships are absolutely real. It’s like going back to kindergarten […] and […] not just kindergartners. All the shifting moods and loyalties and jealousies and rages and heartbreaks also happen in middle school. And high school. And college. And in companies and shops and family reunions populated entirely by adults.”
• “I’ve learned to overlook the pretentious undertelling of arty filmmaking. […] If that were the only negative, I’d simply warn you about it (as I warned people about the artiness of the brilliant Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).”
• “I hate[d] it every bit as much as I loved it.”

You can read his full comments, including why he hated the movie, in his blog School Trip, Wild Things, Barefoot to Zion.

Some of the colleagues involved in this conversation are responsible for the new Blockbuster blog that launched a couple weeks ago. They invited me to contribute a post on non-linear movies for that blog. I have included the introduction below; visit the Blockbuster blog to read the rest.

Most movies present events in chronological order, one event following the other in a linear fashion. This is not surprising, since we experience the real world in chronological order. But some movies, often categorized as “non-linear” movies, present events in some alternative order to achieve certain effects. Read Full Post »

• St. Nick: This film explored the difficult lives of two children running away from home. The two children actors, siblings on screen and in real life, were excellent. There were definitely some powerful moments, but overall it was painfully slow and left out too many details for us to piece the plot together. Perhaps we are just too dense, but it seemed like it was trying too hard to be “artsy” for no particular reason.

• Lightbulb: I attended a late show of this intriguing film with my friend Brian. It told the story of the invention of a popular novelty gift — I won’t say what it was because that’s part of the fun. (I will say that we have one of them in our house.) The movie  combined sympathetic characters, a compelling story, a nice balance of humorous and serious situations, and some thought-provoking insights into the nature of invention.

• Americana: This documentary primarily followed two high school seniors in California preparing to enter the military after graduation. It provided an intriguing lens through which to look at issues related to military recruiting, American foreign policy, and the way America is perceived throughout the rest of the world.

We certainly enjoyed our first experience with the festival, and I think it will inspire us to attend more events in the future.