Of all the directors currently working in Hollywood,
there is perhaps no one who personifies the term “one trick pony” more than Wes
Anderson. His seven live-action features
to date have all been remarkably similar.
At their center is a weird character or group of weird characters on
some kind of fanciful quest. They’re often
portrayed by actors who you might consider too big to be playing such a role
and yet there they are. The look of these
films is always kitschy, cutesy and detailed to the extreme.
I enjoyed Mr. Anderson’s earlier works (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and Bottle
Rocket). I was less impressed with
some of his later efforts (The Darjeeling
Limited and Moonrise Kingdom). Yet I
decided to give him another chance with
The Grand Budapest Hotel. I was glad
I did.
The movie focuses on one M. Gustave, wonderfully
portrayed by Ralph Fiennes, the concierge at the Grand Budapest Hotel. The hotel is not located in Budapest, as the
name might suggest, but in the fictional Republic of Zubrowka. Zubrowka could be a stand in for Hungary or
perhaps the Czech Republic except for the fact that everyone speaks English.
M. Gustave is very popular with the wealthy, elderly
widows who frequent the Grand Budapest.
When one of these grande dames dies suddenly under suspicious
circumstances, M. Gustave gets entangled in the distribution of her estate with
her wicked heirs. Assisting the suave
concierge in these adventures is the dutiful lobby boy, Zero Moustafa, ably
depicted by Tony Revolori. The action
plays out as the storm clouds of World War II are gathering.
Since all of Anderson’s films are so remarkably similar,
it’s hard to say why this one falls into the category of “the ones that worked”
rather than “the ones that didn’t”.
Ultimately, I believe it comes down to the central character. Can they carry off the whimsical tale or
can’t they? Jason Schwartzman was able
to do it in his acting debut as Max Fisher, the protagonist of Rushmore.
Gene Hackman also succeeded as the charlatan patriarch and title
character of The Royal Tenebaums.
Ralph Fiennes prevails here with his energetic portrayal
of a wonderfully contradictory and outmoded character. M. Gustave personifies his hotel and the high
standards it represents. He lords over
his domain with an iron hand but is still prone to flights of fancy and even
immoral acts when they suit his needs.
Gustave is something of a Don Quixote as he struggles to preserve a
rapidly disappearing world of style and civility that is about to be stamped
out completely by the impending war.
There’s precious little new ground covered in this movie,
aside from the evil specters of fascism and war always lurking on the edge of
the frame. However, if you’re a Wes
Anderson fan, you’ll enjoy The Grand
Budapest Hotel. The director trots
out many familiar faces as he always does.
The look of the film is also unmistakably Andersonesque. So if you’re so inclined, go out and enjoy
this latest peek into the mind of America’s most singular filmmaker.
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