The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

The adventures of Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes), a legendary concierge at a famous hotel from the fictional Republic of Zubrowka between the first and second World Wars, and Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori), the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.

Inspired by the writings of Austrian-Hungarian author Stefan Zweig, The Grand Budapest Hotel wants so much to be a sophisticated comedy with bits of romantic distinguished characters reminding of the best films of Max Ophüls and Ernst Lubitsch. Knowing that The Earrings of Madame de… is Anderson’s favorite Criterion Collection film, this is no surprise that he would make a film that is inspired by the German master.

However, with all the will and wit that Anderson is known for, his stylistic extravagances and quirky filmmaking style isn’t enough here to make it happen. Monsieur Gustave is not really engaging and Zero is funny but still hard to get. Added to the stylistic signature, the outstanding cast of F. Murray Abraham, Jude Law, Jason Schwartzman, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Saoirse Ronan, Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody, Mathieu Almaric, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Edward Norton, and Owen Wilson are just a few of the names and many regulars of Anderson’s films.

All those elements couldn’t save the film from being a big mess of a story that goes everywhere and anywhere just for the sake of creating an interesting imagery and using old school visual effects. The hotel looks like a huge cake and despite the saturated look of everything, the adventure does seem forced and characters were probably written for actors that accepted to be in a Wes Anderson picture despite the real use in the story. It is sad that Anderson’s film fells flat because of that. He is a master at writing great ensemble cast stories.

Admitting that I am a big fan of Wes Anderson but not a fan of his latest might demonstrate how even if I vow almost a cult to the director of Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited, and Moonrise Kingdom I honestly couldn’t relate or enjoy The Grand Budapest Hotel as much as I wished I would. Even if it has its moments, it was not enough to save it from being nonchalent, nostalgic in a pointless matter, and a lesser film compared to his overall work. I always let some strikes pass when I really like a director and that he can make films the way he envisions them. Just like Stanley Kubrick who had a vision that was unique and always right. It fells into the average category and lacks of flavor even if any Anderson picture it has lots of sugar.

Moonrise Kingdom

Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)

A pair of young lovers flee their New England town, which causes a local search party to fan out and find them.

Just like Quentin Tarantino’s films, Wes Anderson’s cinema and universe is one that connects with me in a way that few other filmmakers can do. Possibly Martin Scorsese, Akira Kurosawa, François Truffaut, and Stanley Kubrick made films that I could easily relate to and get into with only the opening credits. Wes’ films are like a visual feast for a cinephile’s eyes. Just like the films of let’s say Max Ophüls, Anderson plays on the widescreen framing of his epic filmmaking and storytelling. This other coming of age story, that could easily be a bore if handle by anyone else, is quite unique and very quirky in its presentation. 

Top films of Wes Anderson by LMdC

Wes ANDERSON

One of the most original filmmakers of today. His films feel fresh as the French New Wave and his stories are touching and always entertaining. He follows a line with many recurring themes and regular actors and he totally created his own world. His The Royal Tenenbaums was a revelation to me. One of the so few films that can make me cry...
With newer entries this list will be updated. Feel free to click on the titles with the links, they lead you to my reviews of the films.

1. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
2. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
3. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
4. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
5. The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
6. Rushmore (1998)
7. Bottle Rocket (1996)
8. Hotel Chevalier (2007)
9. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Bottle Rocket

Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson, 1996)I must admit that when I first saw Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums (I discover the director with that film) I cinematically felt in love. This off-beat, bittersweet, wrong and weird juvenile tale of love, family, lost and recover touched me very deeply even if it's depicted with grotesque characters, and bigger than life human beings. I know some find his films too cartoonesques or whatever but their message still passes on. To me the sensibility of this auteur is way more important than his cheesy still candy-eye images. I think he is the Martin Scorsese of his generation. Yes I said it now you can throw rotten vegetables at me if you want but I think that what they present in their frames are very different but they are from the same kind of mould. They both have unique ways of filming their scenes and their films are what they are. Entertainment that is deep, meaningful and easy to understand without being stupid or useless to your life.

Anderson's first film is quite enjoyable, by its story, two losers want to become someones and try to be robbers. They rob their parent's houses, libraries and go on the run. A major theme in Anderson's oeuvre is the childish acts of his adults. It's like they never grew up and mature to face their responsabilities and everything they do is think about themselves. Their decisions are influenced by their infantile impulses. The other recurring them in Anderson is the search of a missing or absent father figure. In Bottle Rocket its more subtle than in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou for example. We find that figure in James Caan's godfather character but in a more deviate form.
Bottle Rocket is in some ways more dramatic than comedic. Well, Anderson's films always overlap the two genres and sometimes it's hard to tell if a scene was intended for a good laugh or just plain pathetic sadness. It's always a bittersweet taste of melancholy of the end of the childhood and the ways to try to recreate the foolish plays we did when we were kids. Anderson's characters are constructed like if they were Michael Jackson. They never had any childhood and all the try to do is catch up with this thing missing from their lives... See here the opening sequence of The Royal Tenenbaums, the children of the family we're geniuses and all got into adult life too young.

Far from being my favorite Anderson film, Bottle Rocket is some way a very good and little seen indie film that announces the brilliant career of Wes Anderson and the Wilsons.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson, 2009)

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First of all, I must say that I am a 100% a fan of the work of Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach. I remember seeing The Royal Tenenbaums how the kitsch off-beat indie naive charm label of the film got me and how with multiple viewings it’s becoming one of my favourite film of all time. I also remember when I discovered The Squid and The Whale, I didn’t expect anything... It was the story of my family and at the time I saw it, The Squid and the Whale deeply touched me and it’s why you find it in my Top 5 of the last decade.

I was looking forward for Fantastic Mr. Fox, especially when TSPDT put it in their highly recommend films (btw the first of W. Anderson’s films). This is the story of Mr. Fox (George Clooney) who swore to his loving wife, Felicity (Meryl Streep) to stop stealing from the humans and get a real job. For 12 years, he made it but the temptation and the emptiness of his new life of columnist brought him to secretly restart his activities until the humans discovers his felony and try to catch him.

On the story level, Anderson and Baumbach were adapting a child novel. But many main themes that are recurring in Anderson’s filmography: the failure of the father figure, the wonder child that tries anything to impress and be accepted by his dad are present here. I’m just afraid that Anderson is gonna get the critic of always redoing the same film over and over like Woody Allen had the same criticism. His stories are charming so as the characters but I’d like to see another of film from Anderson even if I had a really good time watching Fantastic Mr. Fox.

I read some critics when Fantastic Mr. Fox came out that it wasn’t a family film, I think this is so a family film because the animations are made with stop motion something very different from the 3D family films abounding. Well, it’s no surprise coming from Wes Anderson the more kitsch filmmaker out there. It has a unique charm and feeling into it. I truly recommend this film to anyone with or without children.

A Film review by Michaël Parent