The Grand Budapest Hotel [Marathon Review - Final Draft]

“To him who has often told the tales of others, many tales will be told.”

-Author

            In Wes Anderson’s most recent film, the popular and brilliant auteur finally bests himself after the phenomenal Rushmore. The Grand Budapest Hotel is the second Wes Anderson film I watched in theaters, and after exiting the theater with my brothers, I was the only one of us who was still mentioning how absolutely spectacular the film was, hours after we had watched it. Every single element of this masterpiece is far more than satisfying, and Anderson exceeds all expectations. It is both an absolutely epic film and an incredible experience.

            Wes Anderson’s style reaches its highest, most developed point in his astonishing career in this film. Every individual shot is delicately engineered and brilliantly executed. I have now come to the conclusion that this film is in fact more detailed than Fantastic Mr. Fox, and each shot is packed to the brim with a specifically thrilling class of Wesiness, and more symmetry and lateral whip-pans are present than ever before. The film demonstrates massive blocking, overwhelming choreography, an intensely beautiful color scheme. The beauty of the framing of this film is just jaw dropping, and the calm yet hugely beautiful collaboration of the sometimes faded and sometimes strong colors astonishes at every second, and often melds with the mood of the moment well. In fact, often the lighting in the background changes rather obviously to work with the current scene. The three aspect ratios that the film sports, used for its three separate time periods, show how much control Wes has over this particular film. He also uses the 4:3 aspect ratio as no one has before. After Moonrise Kingdom’s brief foray into relative normality, Wes Anderson has returned to his excitingly quick witted, creative self.

            This camerawork is magnificent. All movements and turns are extraordinarily solid. Every second is definite and powerful, and it does remind one of the power that Wes Anderson had on Fantastic Mr. Fox. That film of course had this effect, as Anderson did indeed control each and every frame, literally. He could quite easily control exactly where the camera stopped and where it went. With live action it’s naturally far more difficult to have this effect on the visuals of his film. Despite that, Anderson is still able to exude the same perfectly composed brilliance in cinematography (thanks in part, of course, to Robert Yeoman).

            Wes Anderson makes several references to his other films. He has some shots on trains, and the setup of those shots may remind one of The Darjeeling Limited. He has shots on motorcycles in the same fashion as in Fantastic Mr. Fox, with on character’s head poking out from behind the driver of the bike. In addition, he uses several miniatures in the film, brilliantly and beautifully. The Grand Budapest Hotel is also Wes Anderson’s most violent and suspenseful film yet. Several characters are brutally murdered, one is beheaded, fingers are chopped off, and in the climax of the film there’s a gigantic shootout.  

            Add to all of this, the score. Alexandre Desplat’s third soundtrack for Wes Anderson is without a doubt his best yet. It’s magnificently energetic, adding just the right tone to each and every scene, at least those touches that Wes could not provide himself. This score works on several themes, most of which are very fast. They’re used exceptionally well in the film, most notably in a chase scene and the climax of the film. The movie has an odd lack of any sort of compiled soundtrack, but Desplat handsomely compensates for that with ease, causing the film to feel even more original.

            The cast is amazing, debatably the best that Anderson has yet had. We are presented with an enormous number of cameos, and we have some rather prominent actors playing some rather miniscule roles. Among this great crew are Owen Wilson, Bill Murray (of course), Bob Balaban, Wallace Wolodarsky and Waris Ahluwalia. All of these actors have had a role in at least one of Anderson’s previous films. Some of the children from Moonrise Kingdom also make some minor appearances. And the main cast is also superb. Ralph Fiennes is extraordinary and says every line with grace and candor, in the precise and delicate way that they should be said. Tony Revolori displays a similar expertise and will likely be returning in future Anderson movies. Willem Dafoe expertly portrays a chilling assassin, known professionally as a ‘private inquiry agent’. Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton is hardly recognizable in pounds of makeup as the dowager countess, Madame Celine Villeneuve Desgoffe und Taxis, and Adrien Brody plays a wildly cursing, temperamental and money-driven count with murderous intentions.

            This story is filled with many moving parts and highly influential characters. All the characters have different intentions, which makes the plot all the more exciting and suspenseful. A. J. Henckels is trying to enforce the law but has a friendship with M. Gustave H., who is the very man he is after. Dmitri, the spoiled son of Madame D., is working only for selfish gains and seems willing to cut down anyone in his path (at least via J.G. Jopling, the murderer). And Agatha, Zero’s beloved fiancé, has a devotion to Zero of course, but also wishes to remain morally right, as she states, “I don’t trade in stolen property!”

            Oddly, very few relationships are explored, but are instead rooted in past and off-screen events. Among these sorts of relationships are the relationship between Madame D. and Gustave H., the relationship between Henckels and Gustave H., and the relationship between Zero and Agatha. This give much support to part of the focus of the film, which is the idea and the art of storytelling. In storytelling, not all is revealed. We don’t know much about some of these relationships because either Zero doesn’t know, or he is not willing to speak of them (as is the case with his relationship with Agatha). The only truly well explored relationship in the story is of course, the one we should know well and the one that Zero would love to reminisce about the most: his relationship with the concierge, Gustave H., who instead of remaining simply his employer, becomes a true friend, a sort of brother.

            Wes Anderson defines the word auteur in nearly all of his films. His style and the way that he accentuates everything about a film sets him apart from your normal director. Composed of many exciting and magnificent and even grand scenes, this film is a captivating, fun, adventurous journey. Everything visual, from the decoration of all of the locations (especially the Grand Budapest), to the elaborate and eye-catching wardrobe is beautiful, and demonstrates great control from Anderson. The Grand Budapest Hotel examines the beauty of storytelling with its story within a story.