Review of The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) by Hatem A — 17 Jan 2015
4.0/4.0.
Writer-director Wes Anderson always is great at making original movies with ?awkward vibes and obscure characters at their center. I have always liked his work but never loved it but that all changed with "The Grand Budapest Hotel", his most accomplished and entertaining work to date that is likely to appeal to a mass audience. It is also the best movie of the year so far!
It's a story within a story within a story within a story. The central character in this star-studded vehicle is Ralph Fiennes in a very different, career-best performance as the manager of the title hotel in 1932. He romances old ladies and has a special spot for Madame D (an unrecognizable Tilda Swinton) who leaves him a priceless painting in her will, leading him and new lobby boy Zero Mustafa (Tony Revolori) on the run when he is suspected of her murder.
The cast is uniformly good but Willem Dafoe is a standout as the henchman of Madame D's villainous son (Adrien Brody). The extended cast includes Jude Law, Tom Wilkinson, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Harvey Keitel, Mathieu Amalric, Edward Norton, F. Murray Abraham, Jeff Goldblum and Saoirse Ronan (as Mustafa's love interest). Most of the roles are brief and Anderson makes a brilliant job directing the cast, a task many other top-tier directors would fail at.
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The way the story plays out is just like a good book with so many interesting subplots and rich details (it is fitting that in the movie the story is the great work of a novelist). The movie's pacing, storytelling technique and colors (which are just brilliant) reminded me of modern French classic "Amelie" without feeling like an imitation.
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" is worthy of several Oscar nods (Lead Actor, Screenplay, Production Design, Score by Alexandre Desplat, among others) but I just hope the Academy has the memory. This is entertainment at its best! Anderson's screenplay is reportedly inspired by the works of Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig.
This review of The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) was written by Hatem A on 17 Jan 2015.
The Grand Budapest Hotel has generally received very positive reviews.
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