I've never been the biggest Wes Anderson fan. Not in the sense that I dislike his movies, but I guess I've just never been absolutely infatuated with them. To be fair, I was probably too young to properly appreciate Tenenbaums, and Moonrise Kingdom is the only other one of his movies I've actually seen.
I'm almost surprised to say, though, that I absolutely loved The Grand Budapest Hotel. Obviously the story was a captivating one. The movie was incredibly funny – with some unexpectedly shocking dialogue from Adrien Brody and Willem Dafoe's characters – and romance wasn't the main part of the plot, which for whatever reason I enjoyed. The main focus, instead, was the lovably uncomfortable companionship between Ralph Fiennes' character M. Gustave and his apprentice Zero.
The pairing of the two starring actors was an interesting decision. Fiennes is an enormously talented actor with a distinguished resume. Tony Revolori, who plays Zero, on the other hand just seemed like any random kid. He seemed to mumble more than I did when I was a teenager — maybe I could have been an actor. His finest moments on screen were him chastising Fiennes' character for flirting with his girlfriend, but he was no show stopper. Saoirse Ronan, who played Zero's girlfriend Agatha however, did a marvelous job – considering she had maybe 10 minutes of total screen time – as the worrisome but confident pastry chef that helps Gustave and Zero resolve their quandary.
Anderson's cinematography and compulsively technical camera approach is second to none, but the film's Eastern European location made an even bigger impact on the final product, in my opinion. The snow and the mountains are one thing, but there's a character to the stone pathways and century-old buildings that give off a sort of authenticity. It almost makes me want to move to a place like this.
No comments:
Post a Comment