Rushmore

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Earning critical acclaim and commercial success upon its 1998 release, Rushmore - the sophomore film of American auteur Wes Anderson - quickly gained the status of a cult classic. A melancholic coming-of-age story wrapped in a comedy drama, Rushmore focuses on the efforts of Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) - a precocious fifteen-year-old - to find his way. Restless and overcompensating for his insecurities, Max pursues a dizzying range of possible futures, leading him into the orbit of local steel magnate Herman Blume (Bill Murray), school teacher Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams), and a host of cooperative schoolmates who help him to stage lavish film-derivative plays. Kristi Irene McKim's compelling study argues that despite the title's call for haste and excess (rush/more), the film challenges a drive towards perfectionism and celebrates the quiet connections that defy such passion and speed. After establishing the film's development and reception history, McKim closely reads Rushmore's energetic musical montages in relation to slower moments that introduce tenderness and ambiguity. Her analysis offers an urgent corrective to what might be perceived as an endearing portrait of privilege that perpetuates a status quo. Drawing out the subtleties that soften, temper, ease, expand and equalise the film's zeal, she reads Rushmore with a generosity learned from the film itself.