I can't help but disagree with the idea that this film is cold. If anything, his later films have the calculated staging that make the presentation feel icy, with the exception of maybe Moonrise Kingdom. I look to a scene as simple as Ben Stiller's character lying on the floor, then his son decides to lie on the floor beside him. That one act is simple, heartfelt and warm. It doesn't do much to further the loose plot of the story, but it does a lot for the characters, where they are and where they need to be. On the surface, I understand that the film might feel like it's keeping people at a distance, with the neglect and cold father being at the centre.
Ben Stiller's character has immense growth in the film. In an effort to become nothing like his father, he alienates his own family. He has to face his own inner turmoil and his shortcomings with his own father before he is able to see the overbearing protectiveness of his own children.
But then I look to the female characters, specifically Paltrow, a see that Anderson never really had a strong female character in any of his films since then. They all feel one-dimensional after this film and I think that might be because he has yet to collaborate with a female writer. Something I think might take his films in a new direction that I would eagerly look forward to.
Anderson has become "too Anderson" and with each new film every review seems to be "This is his most Wes Andersony film yet" So with that direction that he seems to be going in, I still appreciate the inner workings of what Tenenbaums offers.
I wouldn't disagree that the narrative, and the journey the characters go through in this film, is filled with emotion. Both repressed and clearly visible. Out of all of Anderson's films, I think the script of this film is brimming with ideas regarding the need we have of family, and the hurt they often bring. It's a big reason it was a favorite movie of mine for a long time. Each character represented something to me, and those things they represent were definitely based in emotion.
And as for his sense of style here, it is off the charts. Rarely has a director brought such meticuluous perfectionism to his work. Rarely is there so much to discover in the backgrounds of every shot. It is a marvel in so many ways. The kind of artistic statement that when I first watched, actually filled me with despair, as it made me realize that as a creative person myself, how much further I had to go to compete with such a thing. An impossible distance. A humbling experience, but the kind of thing that ends up just making love the whole idea of art so important to me.
But then what happened with this recent viewing. For the record I would still give it an 8/10. High praise from me. But it just felt diminished. Not reaching the potential I remembered it reaching. And it think it is the incongruency of the films two greatest virtues. Extremely well thought out script, which requires a deeply empathetic approach to get it all properly on screen. And a director finally having within his grasp to finally make the movie he probably always had in his head, as he now had both the experience and the money to realize these visions. The problem is I just think he went too far on the latter. I can't even think of a single frame of this film that doesn't feel like it is being firmly held in place. His over abundance of talent and ideas just feels....stiffling. Especially after 2 straight hours of it.
I feel the material this script offered for this movie really required moments to feel (at least occassionally to provide contrast) spontaneously lived in. Or natural. Maybe just knock down the preciousness a bit for a few minutes from time to time. Because it doesn't do this, the whole film feels like a catepillar in a jar that has no holes punctured in the lid. We get a sense it should be turning into a butterfly anytime soon. But instead it just suffocates.
Rushmore (even if you aren't a big fan) has such easy breezier moments as these in abundance. Moments where characters move around, like people. Where characters seem to be thinking as they talk, and not reciting everything exactly in that Anderson dead pan style. Even simple scenes of Max walking through campus, scenes that seem like they may have just been done in one take, while insignificant in the big scope of the narrative, are enough to provide that relief. They are the holes in the lid. Offering that sense of reality that I just couldn't get back to in my recent viewing of RT.
All of that said, I don't remotely begrudge anyone for retaining their complete love of the film. I wish I was still there. But I just have to be real to my own experience with the movie, even if it goes against the previous twenty years of my total devotion to it.