Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel

[joshuatxuk]

I wanted to like this movie, but couldn't. I really love some of his earlier work (Life Aquatic above all), but this one just seems too much like a parody on Wes Anderson and his style. I didn't laugh even once.

All style and no substance. I'm having hard time believing this is really the direction he wanted to go. The lowest common denominator, flat and banal. Ha ha ha look how quirky and symmetrical everyhing is. Yes, "everything", because I don't think characters even exist any more in his films. It's all just props and movie set, actors could be replaced with cardboard cutouts.

I already disliked Moonrise Kingdom, but this one is even a few bars lower. I'm thinking maybe it's because Owen Wilson isn't cast in major roles any more, he was really perfect in all of Anderson's movies... I just don't know. I'm really disappointed.

 

I must admit I liked the characters they were a more one-dimensional than in his past movies.

The scenes with the young author and old zero were the most emotional, but they made up such a small portion of the film. The fact that it's implied the whole story is set within the book's words itself (it opens and closes with the girl at the statue after all) added this sense of hauntology to the whole film. But it's hardly central, just my take on it.

 

[kokoon]

Well I guess it's obvious this works for a lot of people. The crowd in the theatre loved it and they were laughing a lot, enjoying the movie very much. But every time they laughed or sighed empathically, I rolled my eyes, ground my teeth and crossed off another cliche checkbox. Having the movie presented in THREE different aspect ratios (ooooh how cutely over-the-top), was just another of those.

 

I might be must bitter though, my girlfriend loved it. We talked a bit about what I thought about it, and then she decided she wanted to revisit some of the old ones. So we put bottle rocket on when we got home (she wanted the earliest, I don't think it's one of his best) and we both enjoyed it. And you know what, that's a MOVIE. And this one is just stupid empty farts.

[Candiru]

Weird, I think Life Aquatic, for example has all the ingredients of a movie I should love, but it opts for some kind of obtuse, hollow non-committal that ends up being way more frustrating to watch than entertaining. The dry humor has no real laughs to balance it out and the dramatic parts don't work at all because we're hardly made to give a shit about the stiff as a board non-characters. I'll still watch it but it's too hard not to imagine how much better it could have been.

 

I thought with GBH he finally lightened up a bit and decided to make a movie that was as much fun as it appeared to be for once.

[kokoon]

That really is interesting. I really don't think characters in LA are flat or shallow, it's probably what you call, their stiffnes that makes them interesting and substantial in my eyes. Mysterious if you will. I always thought *that* was Anderson's shtick and I loved it. Unapprochable, difficult characters that take time to open up gradually. I loved them in all his movies, yeah, they've always been quirky but it didn't really bother me. In fact, it usually served as a door to the depths of the character. Now they're just vessels for not particularly interesting ideas of quirkiness.

It could be that it's really similar to how I function and socialize in my own life, but the older films just felt more substantial and realistic.

 

My main problem with Moonrise Kingdom was the lack of developed adult characters. I just couldn't grow into a ten year old. He was kind of mutant child/adult persona, but it didn't help me. I kept looking out for some substantial characters beyond the main pair, but they were all *really* shallow, I could hardly call them characters.

For me, GBH is even less. Like he would remove the main two kids from MK, all that remains are side characters.

[marf]

i love the visual style of his films. who doesnt. but i find something missing. not as hollow as a burton film, just his predictable attempts at a suspenseful payoff at the end of his films don't pay up enough. something isnt there. but i do like his films.

[Braintree]

I loved it. I liked the fantastical style and imagination in it. I thought he was mocking himself by hitting a lot of his clichés over and over again. Seemed like it intended to be over the top in that way.

 

Either way, I wasn't much of a Wes Anderson fan before (save Life Aquatic) and still enjoyed this one.

[marf]

a visual feast