With only four theaters in two cities - New York and Los Angeles - originally showing his latest success, Wes Anderson's brilliance has shone through once again, delivering record-breaking ticket sales and climbing over $800,000 in its opening weekend. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" has since been widely released and continues to impress as it approaches $25 million at the box office. And it's not all due to his previous accolades, as Anderson's new film offers the best of all his previous ones and then some, making this arguably his greatest work yet.
Although "greatest" is subjective to the viewer, each of Anderson's films shows bits of rare and untapped genius that places his work both above and out of left field compared to most Hollywood box office hits. His indescribable attention to detail, kismet ensembles and childlike nostalgia with bits of raunchy adult twists and witty dialogue make Wes Anderson one of Hollywood's best kept secrets, only now the cat is out of the bag and purring like a tiger. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" is brilliant in its own right, but also because it has ...
The Nostalgia of "Moonrise Kingdom"
In his last film leading up to this, we saw Anderson dive right into the hearts of every age group using nostalgic bits to tug on our heart's chords. The use of '60s style color schemes, Boy Scouts and troop masters and the od
e to films like "Stand by Me" and "The Goonies" all play a role in borrowing bits of familiarity for a memorable setting to any age group.This use of nostalgia was reinterpreted for "Budapest" in a way that reminded viewers of another time so well, only the impressive part is that it reminds us of a time so familiar that many of us never even lived in. That's the magic of Wes Anderson.
The Uniqueness of "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou"
A story as unique as "The Life Aquatic" is doomed to polarize crowds into a love/hate categorization, and such is the case with "Budapest" as well. Many people will find the story's setting and plot, something as niche as old pre-war Europe, indifferent to their own lives. The beauty of these two films is their ability to transport us to a time and place we might never (and likely will not) ever
visit. If people stay too rooted in their own reality, then they've missed the point of going to the movies already.Anderson provides us with the opportunity to step into a world we may never see, be it our own circumstances or the fact that it doesn't exist outside of his mind, for ten or so dollars. That's a cheap vacation, one which offers more thrills than most week-long trips.
The Witty Cast of "The Royal Tenenbaums"
Most Wes Anderson lovers will tell you their favorite film of his is the "The Royal Tenenbaums," a story about a highly dysfunctional family living in close quarters, brought to life by a well-known, adored and distinct cast. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" succeeds in having a similar cast with familiar roles of Bill Murray, half of the Wilson brothers and with the recurring cast of Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman and William Defoe.
The big talk of "Budapest" is the two leads, a young bellhop in training and the quietly unabashed homoerotic concierge and mentor, M. Gustave, played by the very talented Ralph Fiennes. Fiennes alone carries the film with his unspoken mannerisms, witty tact and well-used profanities. Of all the leads in Anderson's films, Fiennes might be the most refined yet.
The Awkwardly Believable Love Triangle of "Rushmore"
If Jason Schwartzman trying to bang his teacher wasn't far-fetched enough for viewers in "Rushmore," why not top it with Ralph Fiennes' hilarious womanizing of classy rich, old blonde gals throughout the entirety of "Budapest"? Although most would agree that the dainty appearance and fancy personality of M. Gustave would suggest otherwise, but the film holds little back when it comes to showing the concierge amidst his many indiscretions with wealthy broads on their way out.
The Attention to Detail of "Fantastic Mr. Fox"
If there is one obsession Wes Anderson never lets slide throughout his body of work - other than pure quirkiness - it's his constant symmetry. The uniform delivery across each film, despite diverse content and characters, the way the characters align in the frame, how the backdrops are almost mirror images of one another and the space relations between characters are all flawless. Anderson could very well be classified as a control freak, handling all the details from major or mundane, especially in the case of his stop-motion "Fantastic Mr. Fox," in which he built all the sets and controlled every minute detail of the film's sequences.
The interesting part is that he could have made an animated version and had a huge box office success, but Anderson knows the importance of quality over following everyone else's budget-friendly styles of children's storytelling. "Budapest" follows this formula in the attention to details, from the specific color palettes in each scene to the consistent yet varying wardrobes and fancy facial hair.
The Simplicity of "Bottle Rocket"
Some of Anderson's earlier work marks a time when his style was less developed but maintained that ode to simplicity in its story like his first, "Bottle Rocket," starring the Wilson brothers. "Budapest" is similarly outlined in simplicity, telling the story of how a boy came to be the owner of the Grand Budapest Hotel. Although the endless characters, settings and amusingly diverse scenes - from ski slopes to train tracks - may briefly distract viewers away, the film itself is embedded in a fairly simple story, much like all of Anderson's work.
The Foreign Music & Adventure of "The Darjeeling Limited"
For every person who ever dreamt of hopping a train across India to find their spirit animal, 2007's "The Darjeeling Limited" existed specifically for that uncharted trek across foreign grounds, just as "Budapest" offers a uniquely limited setting of early Europe. And, to make it more lovable, Anderson created his own version of this world.
The modes of transportation, the music filling every background, are all alike in that they lack any familiarity to modern day American life. Stepping outside our daily routines and into the shoes of another human being we might never meet, Anderson implores us to take an adventure, to hum along to his tune and see parts of the world and worlds nonexistent to break our monotonous, rudimentary lives, if only for a moment.
So if there are any Wes Anderson films you adore, know that the best parts of them can be found in his latest success, "The Grand Budapest Hotel." Everything else is a step toward the simplistic, nostalgic adventure that our everyday lives crave outside of another Michael Bay film, which costs about the same as a small military war, only at the end of a Bay film, people show a lot more remorse.
