The Movie
The second feature film from Wes Anderson (following his little-seen, much-admired Bottle Rocket), Rushmore introduces us to Max Fischer, a 15-year-old, blue-collar scholarship student. Max may be the worst pupil at the exclusive Rushmore Academy, but he compensates by joining, heading or outright creating a laundry list of extracurricular activities. These include regularly produced live stage adaptations of movies, hilariously inappropriate for the boys acting in them.
Max is a liar and a schemer, and yet his charisma manages to outshine his many faults. He strikes up a strange friendship with alumnus and tycoon Herman Blume, a grown-up version of himself. (Well, older at least.) That camaraderie goes astray when they both fall for the same woman, and a dark but not irrevocable course of revenge ensues.
Thank heavens for the presence of Bill Murray as Blume, both for his power to bring Rushmore a much larger audience and for his nuanced performance of the good-hearted sad-sack millionaire. As Max, Jason Schwartzmann too unleashes abundant subtle character-based humor, the backbone of this always funny, at times laugh-out-loud comedy.
Also read Rushmore, a Joe Lozito review.
The Picture
The director-supervised 2K scan yields a remarkably sharp, mostly gorgeous 2.35:1 image. The movie was beautifully photographed by Robert Yeoman and the many fine details only serve to draw us in: the blush of Olivia Williams' cheek, the creases in Bill Murray's brow, the precise blades of grass around the Rushmore campus. Blacks can be a bit vague, but grain and noise are minimal.
The Sound
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is equally impressive. Mark Mothersbaugh's musical score and the rock/pop tunes are exquisitely mixed across the entire soundstage. The Blume International plant is busy with the requisite manufacturing noises, while applause sweeps across the rears in unusual ways. Thunder is amusingly exaggerated, and kudos to Anderson and his audio mavens for making the effort to mix in discrete incidental effects like footsteps, sirens and the like. Max's dynamite-fueled final production meanwhile is far grander than we'd likely expect.
The Extras
The supplements here are virtually identical to those on the January 2000 Criterion DVD of the Touchstone/Buena Vista film, although the video has been upgraded to a 1080i/60 presentation. They begin with the Summer 1999 audio commentary from director Wes Anderson, co-writer and most-of-the-time-actor Owen Wilson, and star Jason Schwartzmann. There are the audition tapes for six actors including "The Twins" (about nine minutes total), along with film-to-storyboard comparison in top-and-bottom windows (two minutes) as well as a collection of original storyboards for five sequences.
The three Max Fischer adaptations of hits from the 1999 MTV Movie Awards are assembled for our consideration, with the original introduction, about four minutes total. Eric Chase Anderson's "The Making of Rushmore" provides a 17-minute overview, while a vintage Charlie Rose Show features Wes Anderson and Bill Murray (54 minutes).
The only difference from the DVD is the Archiva Graphica still-frame section, which is carried over but seriously shortened on Blu-ray for some reason.
Final Thoughts
While the minimally truncated, in-no-way-expanded bonus features might disappoint after more than a decade to reevaluate Rushmore's place in the Wes Anderson canon, the terrific video quality and the immersive audio earn this Blu-ray extra credit.
Product Details
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