Continental breakfast with a side
of Peculiarity ?
An Author (Wilkinson) is
reminiscing about his visits too which was once one of the most luxurious hotel
in Europe in the 60’s, here the young author (law) meets the owner a Mr
Moustafa (Abraham) how he can obtain the building from M. Gustave (Fiennes) the
story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless renaissance painting and a
battle of an enormous family fortune. All between the back drop of a suddenly
and dramatically changing continent.
The Grand Budapest Hotel
continues the director’s upward curve with Fantastic Mr. Fox, but with the
Darjeeling Limited, a project that was losing a lot of creative steam. Like Mr.
Fox, Grand Budapest hotel is another film yet again with heavy emphasis on
production design, with lavish sets and costumes. Anderson invests in
interiors- target the life aquatic with a huge diagram of a submarine set-think
Darjeeling with the outlandish Bollywood train; Moonrise Kingdom with the
maze-like bishop household. Anderson always delivers with his overt the top
sets, which makes everything seem just perfectly wonderful, and like your
really there.
With The Grand Budapest
particular detail has been used in little Georges Méliès-style
cut out panorama’s with small silhouettes back packing up hillsides and
elevators scenes wobbling up and down. Anderson revealed a new strength with
his most handcrafted film to date, this had allowed him to control every aspect
from Landscape to weather, this seemed as if it was one of his most soulful
films.
Anderson is recognized for child productions
but this was a adult project by far, this film was more broadly funny and
subversive, to his dysfunctional family content of his earlier more deadpan and
sombre films.
The film takes place in it’s own world away
from anywhere- the republic of Zubrowka, where the currency is ‘Klubeck’ there
are even two Budapest hotels: first the ornate, pastel-coloured Xanadu of the
early 20th century, then the un-idealistic no frills shadow of
itself that it has become in the cold war ‘60’s. We are focused on the latter
of the two hotels as the films narrating author travels there, in flashback, as
the young man meets the hotels reclusive owner, Mr. Moustafa. The hotel is now
shadowed with an eerily calm place surrounded by soviet intrigue, almost taking
from ‘The lives of others’ with an expo of police informants and hidden
microphones.
The film is a doubling of memories and more
memories which effectively is the authors recollections of Mr. Moustafas memoir
who is the true hero of the film is the adorable M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes)
There are two framing devices within the Grand Budapest Hotel; the author as he
is today (Tom Wilkinson, who stares dejectedly into the camera almost sending a
direct commercial messages to the people watching) and then as he was in in the
late 60’s (Jude Law) a more spirited and adventurous personality. There is no
reason at all for this, but it certainly suits the shaggy-dog nature of this
bizarre tale.
Such details of this film will be widely
appreciated by dedicated followers of Anderson although the film is sent to a
new level of stylization that many would tire of it’s relentless fussiness and also
its often stiff body language, but for those willing to immigrate into the strange
and marvelous mind of Wes Anderson, there is plenty to enjoy.
Whether the film works or not it is certainly
in the eye of the beholder, and the Grand Budapest hotel will be as divisive-
with of course the exception of Fantastic Mr. Fox – as all the others. This may
be among his better films, on eof the view that repay prepeated viewings.
A stylish deadpan Wes Anderson movie the is
almost on the brink a masterpiece and imbecility
