Friday, June 6, 2014

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Director: Wes Anderson
Writers:  Wes Anderson, Stefan Zweig (Inspired by the works of), Hugo Guinness
Cast:       Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revelori, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Jude Law

The adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.

The film starts with a teenage girl sitting in front of the monument to a writer in a cemetry. In the book a character known as author is remembering a trip he made to 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' in 1968 where the current owner of the hotel, Moustafa, tells him the story of Gustave which happened in the 1930s. The three broad timelines have got different aspect ratios and it is another great one from Wes Anderson with both light and dark humor, stunning visuals and violence. Its is typical of Wes Anderson to have a blow job and finger cutting scene in what seems to be a children' film. It might just be his greatest film though 'Rushmore' and 'Royal Tenenbaums' could be considered more affecting. It is not going to win any new fans for Wes Anderson but it will well and truly reward the faithfuls. 

Film centers around the mentorship between Gustave and Moustafa, excellently played by Ralph Fiennes and Tony Revelori  respectively. During the course of the film I was reminded of 'The Shining', 'Se7en', 'Shawshank Redemption', 'Inglorious Basterds' among several others. Nazis are not explicitly named as such and symbol in their uniform is also different. One reason could be that the film received German funding or just Wes Anderson being playful. It is difficult to describe the film except that it is quintessentially in the Wes Anderson universe and is fucking great.

Rating: 5/5

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