2014: The Year in Film: "Grand Budapest Hotel" Review

It's not exactly a secret that everyone (by everyone, I mean, of course, me) over here at HOB is a big Wes Anderson fan. I can honestly say that I like every single one of his films, and he's the only moderately prolific director of whom I can say that I own all of his works.  Rushmore is my least favorite, but mostly that's my own personal cross to bear because I loathe the secret Coppola Jason Schwartzman and not due to anything intrinsically wrong with the film itself. (For what it's worth, my favorite is The Life Aquatic by a long shot)  His films are wholly unique, with an intimate feel and undying sentimentality underlying the often saccharine aesthetics and occasionally silly bordering on twee feel of the entire affair. I totally understand why someone wouldn't like Wes Anderson's films, but you'll have to take your gripes elsewhere, because I've wholly bought in.

For the record, here's the official HOB ranking of all of Wes Anderson's films (maybe I'll do a whole post on this someday, if I can ever get ahead of my movie reviews...):
8. Rushmore
7. The Darjeeling Limited
6. Fantastic Mr. Fox
5. Bottle Rocket
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel
3. Moonrise Kingdom
2. The Royal Tenenbaums
1. The Life Aquatic

In The Grand Budapest Hotel, Anderson attempts his most complicated narrative yet. In the present, a young girl opens a memoir written some years prior. We then flash to the more recent past, where the writer of the memoir (Jude Law) beings narrating from his work.  Some years prior, we flash to the hotel itself, where the author speaks with the owner of the once-proud hotel over a series of meetings, wherein the owner regales the author with the tale of how he came to own the hotel and the hotel's famed past in the period between the wars in the fictional alpine nation of Zubrowka.  We are then taken to the 1930's and introduced to the eccentric staff and visitors of the Grand Budapest Hotel at the height of its glory, first and foremost among them the famous concierge, Gustave H. (the criminally underrated and underused Ralph Fiennes)

The Good: after the 1960's aesthetic of Moonrise Kingdom, Anderson continues to explore his visual aesthetic with a journey into the 1930's, and he does not disappoint. The costumes, sets, buildings and world of Europe between the wars feels wholly realized and recognizably period-appropriate while also being vintage Anderson. This is no small feat, and if you appreciate nothing else about Wes Anderson, please recognize how hard his attention to detail and wholly immersive worlds are to pull off convincingly.  The plot, while more complicated than anything he's attempted before, flows seamlessly, and the film manages to successfully toe that patented Anderson line between melancholy, funny, silly and sweet.  Despite the rather absurdist events and scenarios, the danger, feelings and touching humanity of the characters shines through.  As such a unique and respected filmmaker, Anderson always manages to assemble great casts, and the cast here is no exception. In addition to the always great Ralph Fiennes and relative newcomer Tony Revolori, the cast features Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Saoirse Ronan, and Tom Wilkinson, among others. The cast does not disappoint, and Fiennes and Revolori especially are terrific. Fienne's Gustave is especially memorable, playing the lovable scamp to a T.



The Bad: I know that "zany yet touching" is Wes' M.O., but if anything, this film could have gone darker and been better for it.  In a film that features beatings by state police, murders, an extended prison sequence and several chase sequences, some of the sillier elements occasionally feel out of place.  This isn't a major criticism, but it's something I noticed about the film.

In all, it really is remarkable that a film THIS stuffed full of narrative and characters in addition to Anderson's patented quirks comes off as this cohesive and effective. In the hands of a lesser filmmaker, this could have become a total disaster, but Fiennes' performance and the pacing, visuals and writing turn this film into a surprisingly touching and thoughtful madcap romp. Part murder mystery, part heist film, part love letter to a lost time and place, this film is squarely in the top half of Anderson's output as a filmmaker, which means it's one of the finest films of the year.

8.5/10.