I’ve been a bit agnostic about Wes Anderson. I really loved the FANTASTIC MR. FOX, really disliked THE ROYAL TENEBAUMS. MOONRISE KINGDOM left me a bit cold, but tonight I went and saw THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, and I loved it. It has all of Anderson’s stylized quirks, but it works so well in this film. The parade of terrific actors in tiny roles is a delight. The humor is applied with the lightest touch, and at it’s core it’s a celebration of human decency. I also found it very touching and rather melancholy. Despite the humor and the charm there is an underlying sense that life is fleeting, precarious and that it can be snuffed out by greed, violence and callousness. Ralph Feinnes turns in an absolutely pitch perfect performance. Tony Revolori is charming as the deadpan and loyal Zero.
There’s also a lovely message that writer’s can reach across time to recall places and people that might otherwise be lost.
I really liked this film.
A few more random thoughts. I loved the gentle humanity of the thing. The protagonist is a bi-sexual gentleman with courtly manners and a sense of fair play. The scene where he apologizes to Mustafa after an outburst sealed the deal for me. In this era of faux apologies it was nice to hear a genuine apology. I also liked the use of older and younger actors in the same roles. The plot device of the old writer telling the story added to that sense of a lost world swept away in the fires of the war.
I was also surprised at the eye-popping all-star cast he managed to assemble, including Academy Award winners and nominees in both major and bit parts: Adrien Brody as the evil son of the deceased lady, Willem Dafoe as his sadistic enforcer, Jeff Goldblum as the solicitor, Edward Norton as a police chief, Harvey Keitel as a prison gangleader, Tilda Swinton in a quick five minutes as the lady herself, F Murray Abraham as the older Zero… The look of the film is impressive as well: the candy-box town of Görlitz where it was filmed is almost a character itself.
So that’s a real town? I thought it was a stylized set. Just darling. Rather like Portmeirion the actual village in Wales that was The Village in The Prisoner. You can’t believe it’s real, but it is.