Review of The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) by Logan W — 18 Jan 2015

Saw the 2014 critically-acclaimed Grand Budapest Hotel that was only in limited release opening season. This was my first-ever approach to Wes Anderson's movies, so my perspective is wholly unique and somewhat virginal.

I had my ACOG sight clipped on, my eyes were locked in. And, notably, I liked his style, especially his specificity. Everything is exactly how Anderson wants it to be. He has both the smaller and bigger pictures in his mind that he pencils in masterfully.

There was broad and narrow themes and Wes portrays them so accurately and so precisely. I believe the parody of Anderson is the symmetrical composed shots, and this movie really takes that at its word and encompasses that.

I mean every single shot is of that style. The aspect ratios of the screen even change through the different timeline brackets, which was cool, including the crisp black and white scene at the end. The camera feels on train tracks or on a rotator cuff at times.

Ralph Fiennes is spectacular in this movie. He is so nuance. You think he is this sort of English dandy, prim and proper, but then it breaks away at the seams with these fits of cussing and moments of cruelty mixed with beauty.

He is just such an interesting character. There is a story within a story within a story within a story. The storylines are layered like a Mendl's cake. And storytelling ends up being what the movie is ultimately about, I think.

The idea that when a story gets filtered through different people. Different interpretations get driven through it and heighten it and deepen it in certain spots. It's probably lost consistency over the tellings and retellings of the story.

I found myself breathing in the sweet aroma of this movie and was left completely breathless at the end. Wes Anderson is spinning this yarn with these characters. And I was delightfully following the thread the whole way through.

I realize it's hard to walk the line of a drama comedy, yet they balance the tone at emotional equilibrium. I mean, both the funniness and the grave seriousness, Ralph Fiennes and Anthony Quinonez (had to spell-check that) pull it off with such panache.

Wink. Quick word on Zero. I love the vintage morale of Zero's devotion to his job and how that's intwined with his identity and character. That resonated with me because I mourn the loss of that in places of businesses today.

I far too often go to those places and have people giving off this err of not giving a dang. And I love the message relayed by Zero being emotionally invested in his job. One other thing: Ed Norton, by all accounts should be speaking in a German accent right? And that guy at the end who looked like Father Abraham.

We're expected to believe that was Zero 50 years later. He's not even the same race. That being said, I think with Wes Anderson, he's stooped in his own rebellious schemes, that he's willing to break Hollywood rules and confidently construct his own universe.

Also, best hotel movie I've seen to date, I think.