Review of The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) by Brohug — 29 Mar 2014
Another quirky diorama is added to the impressive collection of Wes Anderson who could be considered America's foremost auteur. And yet...
The film is beautiful in its color and set designs. A ravishing impression of continental empirical splendor in a Slavic country prior to something like World War II. The question is, as for several of Anderson's last few films: how does it make you feel? The sight and offbeat gags are there and aplenty but can they support something that is not quite drama or comedy, and certainly not conventional storytelling.
The last few scenes of the film redeem the previous segments as the relationship between M. Gustav H. and the Lobby Boy is cemented as a bond that finally feels genuine. And when the telescopic looking glass of the story's three time periods are finally pressed together, I did feel something close to profound melancholy for the memory of all the central characters in each age, no matter how ridiculous they were depicted.
Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Life Aquatic combined to showcase a new and unique voice in American cinema. In Rushmore, Max Fischer ambitiously pulls together a school stage play adaptation of the film Serpico. I loved that conceit then, but feel like that now IS the conceit for many of Anderson's latest films, including GBH and Moonrise Kingdom. Terrific actors reciting very serious-sounding, direct dialogue with middle school earnestness.
This review of The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) was written by Brohug on 29 Mar 2014.
The Grand Budapest Hotel has generally received very positive reviews.
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