A new film by Wes Anderson...on Netflix? YES PLEASE! "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" is based on a Roald Dahl story about a rich man who learns about a guru who can see without using his eyes, and then sets out to master the skill in order to cheat at gambling. This trailer shows a classic, charming, quirky, and beautiful Anderson creation! Apparently this 39 minute film is the first of a four-part series of short films adapted from Dahl's short stories, including "The Swan," "The Ratcatcher," and "Poison."
The film debuts September 27, 2023 on Netflix. I can't wait!
https://www.netflix.com/title/81388090
Showing posts with label Wes Anderson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wes Anderson. Show all posts
Thursday, September 21, 2023
Thursday, March 30, 2023
"Asteroid City"--A New Film by Wes Anderson!
It is always a glorious day when I discover there is a new Wes Anderson (previously here) film on the way! "Asteroid City" looks as charming as his previous films--and it appears that he is using his established repertory of players along with some great new faces like Bryan Cranston, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Margot Robbie, and Jarvis Cocker. The trailer below features classic Anderson framing and his lovely, washed-out-old-Kodak-snapshot color palette.
Focus Features says:
"ASTEROID CITY takes place in a fictional American desert town circa 1955. Synopsis: The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention (organized to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition) is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.
ASTEROID CITY is only in theaters June 16th."
I can't wait!
https://www.focusfeatures.com/asteroid-city
Focus Features says:
"ASTEROID CITY takes place in a fictional American desert town circa 1955. Synopsis: The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention (organized to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition) is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.
ASTEROID CITY is only in theaters June 16th."
I can't wait!
https://www.focusfeatures.com/asteroid-city
Saturday, November 6, 2021
Wes Anderson: "Cinema's most misunderstood filmmaker"
I have been a fan of Wes Anderson and his films since his debut film "Bottle Rocket." And for those who think that Wes Anderson films are just all style and weird people for the sake of being stylish and weird, here is a wonderful article Mark Allison wrote for BBC Culture that explains how I feel about the work of this incredible director.
"The paths of glory lead but to the grave." So reads the headstone above the burial place of Eloise Fischer, mother of Jason Schwartzman's Max Fischer, in Wes Anderson's 1998 film Rushmore. An extract from Thomas Gray's 1751 poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, it might seem a more fitting epitaph for the tomb of a great military hero than this unremarkable grave. But Anderson's films don't exist within our dull reality – his worlds are fairy tales, and like all good fairy tales, they begin with death.
Everything Anderson dreams up is ultimately about life's first inevitability, and the craterous absence it leaves in the lives of the bereaved – even if they might not be prepared to admit it. Max's traumatic loss of his mother, for example, is mentioned just twice in Rushmore's script, and both times briefly. But her presence, or lack thereof, defines all that Max does – particularly his strange, Oedipal obsession with the widowed Mrs Cross (Olivia Williams). Rushmore is a film about lonely, damaged people seeking human connection, and this spectre of unresolved grief haunts the Texan director's output.
Despite this thematic absorption, death is unlikely to be the first thing that comes to mind when considering Anderson's oeuvre. His distinctively affected visual style has been subject to both criticism and parody. A 2013 Saturday Night Live sketch imagined an Andersonian horror film called The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders; brimming with twee pretensions, dad-rock needle-drops and oddly detached performances. But this preoccupation with the offbeat surface of Anderson's work underestimates his deep understanding of the human condition and the gentle empathy which pervades his filmmaking.
From his debut feature Bottle Rocket (1996), the director's reliance on understatement has lent his work a unique profundity. When Luke Wilson's awkwardly inept crook Anthony Adams candidly remarks, "I'm usually so exhausted now at the end of the days that I don't have time to think about blown opportunities or wasted time," he betrays an immense and existential sadness that cuts disarmingly to the heart of his lot in life.
This peculiar aloofness is a distinctive trait in Anderson's characters, but it is only a varnish on deeply rooted experiences of tragedy and emotional trauma. Ben Stiller's Chas Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) appears to be a cartoonish figure with his hypochondriac mania and bright red tracksuit, but at his core he is a man disturbed by the death of his wife and the weight of his continuing responsibility towards their children.
Likewise, Bill Murray's title character in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) is a transparently absurd personality from the moment he first dons his crimson beanie and holstered Glock, but the brutal death of his best friend, for which he vows revenge, is no less ghastly as a result. Anderson's protagonists bury their trauma beneath a facade of caricature, and their journeys are defined by how they deal with their grief.
Loss continues to hang over Anderson's latest film, The French Dispatch (2021), which is perhaps his most nakedly sentimental work. Opening with the death of a long-serving magazine editor, the film is structured as an episodic obituary for a man, a publication, and an entire industry facing gradual extinction. The name of the fictional French city in which the film is set, Ennui-sur-Blasé, unsubtly signposts this atmosphere of melancholic nostalgia. The colourful characters we've come to expect from Anderson are still present, but their eccentricities contribute to a tableau of mid-century journalism as an exciting and noble arena, since lost to time.
Death had an even more explicit presence in an earlier version of the film. The writer and filmmaker Matt Zoller Seitz tells BBC Culture, "The prologue to The French Dispatch originally ended with Owen Wilson in a graveyard having a picnic near the grave of a young woman, presumably his wife". It seems there is so much mourning in Anderson's worlds that he can afford to cut some of it for pacing.
HUMAN CONNECTION
While Anderson is deft in walking the line between farce and tragedy, he occasionally suspends his broadly comedic sensibility for moments of unadulterated horror. When Richie Tenenbaum attempts suicide, the frankness with which it is depicted is sudden and distressing. Equally, the death of Steve Zissou's son Ned, or the fatal accident during the river crossing in The Darjeeling Limited (2007), deliver an unexpectedly brutal gut punch. These moments of catastrophe enforce a sense of real and terrifying consequence into Anderson's fantastical worlds.
"Death is the biggest thing that we can't control. We can't even know what lies beyond it," Seitz tells BBC Culture. "Accepting this constitutes a harsh lesson for Wes Anderson protagonists, who are often obsessed with controlling everything."
Anderson is not shy in crediting his influences, from filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger to the writer Stefan Zweig, but the director's own experiences also provide a major source of inspiration. His films are littered with autobiographical details; Rushmore, for example, was filmed in the director's own alma mater, St John's School in Houston, Texas, while the family conflict at the heart of The Royal Tenenbaums was inspired by his own parents' divorce.
The most sobering moment in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) comes as Zero Moustafa reveals to M Gustave that his entire family was killed in an earlier war. Speaking to Seitz for his 2015 book on The Grand Budapest Hotel, Anderson elaborates that Zero's harrowing story was inspired by his partner, Juman Malouf, and the experiences of her family in Lebanon.
Perhaps it's because there's so much of Anderson in his own work that it never feels crass when he mixes sensitive themes with absurdist humour. As producer James L Brooks writes in his introduction to Anderson and Owen Wilson's Rushmore screenplay, "They have pulled off the hardest trick in all of contemporary American film: they have won the freedom to use movies as a form of self-expression."
During the director's commentary on the Criterion edition of The Royal Tenenbaums, Anderson explains the dual impulses of visual invention and emotional authenticity that motivate him. "This is a movie where there's a lot of artifice… and it's fun for me to work on those things," he says, "but ultimately the movie didn't mean anything to me until the characters started to become connected to things that I had been through."
So powerful is Anderson's empathy for his characters and their emotional distress that there is rarely room for outright villains in his stories – the farmers in Fantastic Mr Fox (2009) and the fascist ZigZag movement in Grand Budapest being exceptions. As director Martin Scorsese reflected for Esquire in March 2000, "[Bottle Rocket] was a movie without a trace of cynicism, that obviously grew out of its director's affection for his characters in particular and for people in general. A rarity."
A common thread across Anderson's work is the healing power of simple human connection. When Chas Tenenbaum confides to his father, Gene Hackman's Royal, "I've had a rough year, Dad", the response is simply, "I know you have, Chassie''. Both understand all that he's going through, and simply vocalising it is the first step in a deeper reconciliation.
Similarly, when Steve Zissou finally faces the Jaguar Shark that killed his best friend, having lost his own son in pursuit of revenge, all he can say is, "I wonder if it remembers me?" It's a phrase loaded with the meaning of a thousand monologues. How many of us have wasted time in search of things we didn't really want, and neglected what we do in the process?
For the Whitman brothers in The Darjeeling Limited, their journey to India may not have brought the intended spiritual enlightenment or reconciliation with their estranged mother, but they nevertheless find their love and respect for one another renewed. In the film's closing moments, as they toss aside the hideously printed leather luggage they inherited from their father, they cleanse themselves of the emotional baggage that had pushed them apart.
Not all of Anderson's characters are able to come to terms with their grief so cleanly. The scale of Zero's loss in The Grand Budapest Hotel is such that he is unable to recover. Concluding his life story to Jude Law's author, he glosses over the execution of M Gustave and tragically premature death of his wife and child. As the playwright Anne Washburn writes in her introduction to Seitz's book, "In the character of Zero Mustafa, we see a man who has adapted to his losses but has never rebuilt his life, choosing instead to enshrine his past; he is a testament, rather than a true survivor".
Being a survivor comes with its own responsibilities to continue the memory of those who have passed, a burden that Anderson is keen to bear. The end credits of The French Dispatch duly feature a dedication to a number of 20th-Century writers and journalists, all of whom have long since filed their final dispatch. The lasting impression is the same sentiment of fading glory and inevitable decay that decorated Elouise Fischer's grave in Rushmore, and has since reached across Wes Anderson's career.
Link to original article:
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20211015-cinemas-most-misunderstood-filmmaker
Cinema's most misunderstood filmmaker
By Mark Allison 20th October 2021 | BBC Culture
Is there anything more to Wes Anderson's films than twee whimsicality and aloof performances? Much more, argues Mark Allison: they tell us the truth about being human.
Everything Anderson dreams up is ultimately about life's first inevitability, and the craterous absence it leaves in the lives of the bereaved – even if they might not be prepared to admit it. Max's traumatic loss of his mother, for example, is mentioned just twice in Rushmore's script, and both times briefly. But her presence, or lack thereof, defines all that Max does – particularly his strange, Oedipal obsession with the widowed Mrs Cross (Olivia Williams). Rushmore is a film about lonely, damaged people seeking human connection, and this spectre of unresolved grief haunts the Texan director's output.
 |
| In The Royal Tenenbaums, Ben Stiller plays the cartoonish but traumatised Chas (Credit: Alamy) |
From his debut feature Bottle Rocket (1996), the director's reliance on understatement has lent his work a unique profundity. When Luke Wilson's awkwardly inept crook Anthony Adams candidly remarks, "I'm usually so exhausted now at the end of the days that I don't have time to think about blown opportunities or wasted time," he betrays an immense and existential sadness that cuts disarmingly to the heart of his lot in life.
This peculiar aloofness is a distinctive trait in Anderson's characters, but it is only a varnish on deeply rooted experiences of tragedy and emotional trauma. Ben Stiller's Chas Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) appears to be a cartoonish figure with his hypochondriac mania and bright red tracksuit, but at his core he is a man disturbed by the death of his wife and the weight of his continuing responsibility towards their children.
 |
| Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) in The Life Aquatic is a protagonist whose journey is defined by grief (Credit: Alamy) |
Loss continues to hang over Anderson's latest film, The French Dispatch (2021), which is perhaps his most nakedly sentimental work. Opening with the death of a long-serving magazine editor, the film is structured as an episodic obituary for a man, a publication, and an entire industry facing gradual extinction. The name of the fictional French city in which the film is set, Ennui-sur-Blasé, unsubtly signposts this atmosphere of melancholic nostalgia. The colourful characters we've come to expect from Anderson are still present, but their eccentricities contribute to a tableau of mid-century journalism as an exciting and noble arena, since lost to time.
Death had an even more explicit presence in an earlier version of the film. The writer and filmmaker Matt Zoller Seitz tells BBC Culture, "The prologue to The French Dispatch originally ended with Owen Wilson in a graveyard having a picnic near the grave of a young woman, presumably his wife". It seems there is so much mourning in Anderson's worlds that he can afford to cut some of it for pacing.
HUMAN CONNECTION
While Anderson is deft in walking the line between farce and tragedy, he occasionally suspends his broadly comedic sensibility for moments of unadulterated horror. When Richie Tenenbaum attempts suicide, the frankness with which it is depicted is sudden and distressing. Equally, the death of Steve Zissou's son Ned, or the fatal accident during the river crossing in The Darjeeling Limited (2007), deliver an unexpectedly brutal gut punch. These moments of catastrophe enforce a sense of real and terrifying consequence into Anderson's fantastical worlds.
 |
| Anderson's films – including The Grand Budapest Hotel – frequently address the theme of death (Credit: Alamy) |
Anderson is not shy in crediting his influences, from filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger to the writer Stefan Zweig, but the director's own experiences also provide a major source of inspiration. His films are littered with autobiographical details; Rushmore, for example, was filmed in the director's own alma mater, St John's School in Houston, Texas, while the family conflict at the heart of The Royal Tenenbaums was inspired by his own parents' divorce.
The most sobering moment in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) comes as Zero Moustafa reveals to M Gustave that his entire family was killed in an earlier war. Speaking to Seitz for his 2015 book on The Grand Budapest Hotel, Anderson elaborates that Zero's harrowing story was inspired by his partner, Juman Malouf, and the experiences of her family in Lebanon.
Perhaps it's because there's so much of Anderson in his own work that it never feels crass when he mixes sensitive themes with absurdist humour. As producer James L Brooks writes in his introduction to Anderson and Owen Wilson's Rushmore screenplay, "They have pulled off the hardest trick in all of contemporary American film: they have won the freedom to use movies as a form of self-expression."
During the director's commentary on the Criterion edition of The Royal Tenenbaums, Anderson explains the dual impulses of visual invention and emotional authenticity that motivate him. "This is a movie where there's a lot of artifice… and it's fun for me to work on those things," he says, "but ultimately the movie didn't mean anything to me until the characters started to become connected to things that I had been through."
 |
| In The Darjeeling Limited, three brothers travel to India in search of enlightenment but find instead a new respect for each other (Credit: Alamy) |
A common thread across Anderson's work is the healing power of simple human connection. When Chas Tenenbaum confides to his father, Gene Hackman's Royal, "I've had a rough year, Dad", the response is simply, "I know you have, Chassie''. Both understand all that he's going through, and simply vocalising it is the first step in a deeper reconciliation.
Similarly, when Steve Zissou finally faces the Jaguar Shark that killed his best friend, having lost his own son in pursuit of revenge, all he can say is, "I wonder if it remembers me?" It's a phrase loaded with the meaning of a thousand monologues. How many of us have wasted time in search of things we didn't really want, and neglected what we do in the process?
For the Whitman brothers in The Darjeeling Limited, their journey to India may not have brought the intended spiritual enlightenment or reconciliation with their estranged mother, but they nevertheless find their love and respect for one another renewed. In the film's closing moments, as they toss aside the hideously printed leather luggage they inherited from their father, they cleanse themselves of the emotional baggage that had pushed them apart.
 |
| The French Dispatch is a portrayal of mid-century journalism – and loss is a theme throughout the film (Credit: Alamy) |
Being a survivor comes with its own responsibilities to continue the memory of those who have passed, a burden that Anderson is keen to bear. The end credits of The French Dispatch duly feature a dedication to a number of 20th-Century writers and journalists, all of whom have long since filed their final dispatch. The lasting impression is the same sentiment of fading glory and inevitable decay that decorated Elouise Fischer's grave in Rushmore, and has since reached across Wes Anderson's career.
Link to original article:
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20211015-cinemas-most-misunderstood-filmmaker
Saturday, October 16, 2021
The Wes Anderson Train
Now that Wes Anderson's "The French Dispatch" is finally out, let's look at a little side project he created: designing the interior of a British Pullman train car like it was one of his film sets!
Angular, symmetrical and intricately designed, Wes Anderson films are known for their exquisite aesthetics and predilection for panache. Just look at the snow-capped pastels of Zubrowka in ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, or the whimsically named Ennui-sur-Blasé in ‘The French Dispatch.’
Wes is an expert in rendering fantasy worlds that are a little more beautiful and satisfying than the ones we live in. With relentless details to feast upon and carefully calibrated colour palettes to pore over, his films aren’t just thrilling stories: they’re works of art.
Anyone who has seen ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ will also know that Wes has an affinity for the beauty and excitement of train travel. Starring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman, the film sees three brothers reuniting in India and embarking on a luxury train journey together.
“I have often had the chance to invent train compartments and carriages in my movies,” Wes tells us. “So I was very eager to make something new while also participating in the process of preservation which accompanies all the classic Belmond train projects. They are keeping something special alive. An endangered species of travel which is nevertheless very suited to our time.”
Cygnus—a carriage built in the 1950s—has its fair share of cinematic history, featuring in the 1972 film Agatha starring Dustin Hoffman and Vanessa Redgrave. It is one of eleven on the British Pullman, whose carriages have hosted royalty, carried statesmen and survived World War II bomb raids over the years.
With his love of trains and passion for craftsmanship, Wes was tasked with balancing the history of the Cygnus carriage with his own bold and modern vision. The result is a carriage straight out of one of his films: stunningly symmetrical marquetry, bold rectilinear shapes and a feast of complementary colours.
With a pastel-pink ceiling detailing and a variety of green tones in the carpets and chairs, at first glance Cygnus feels like stepping onto one of the director’s film sets. Stunning marquetry work in numerous wood panels shows sunbeams, clouds, stars and waves.
Bold, sharp lines feature in the shape of the chairs and mirrors, adhering to the angular equilibrium the director is famed for. Eagle eyes will also spot the many swan details, referencing the carriage’s name and history.
Guests can ride in Cygnus on any journey on the British Pullman, a unique travel experience that rumbles across the rails all over England. Whether a murder mystery lunch through the Kent countryside or a sparkling dinner hosted by an up-and-coming guest chef, a ticket in Cygnus means you can experience the Golden Age of Travel while appreciating the beauty of modern design. With two private four-seat coupes or seats in the open carriage, the choice is yours.
Book a spot on Cygnus here:
https://www.belmond.com/trains/europe/uk/belmond-british-pullman/seating
Wes is an expert in rendering fantasy worlds that are a little more beautiful and satisfying than the ones we live in. With relentless details to feast upon and carefully calibrated colour palettes to pore over, his films aren’t just thrilling stories: they’re works of art.
Anyone who has seen ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ will also know that Wes has an affinity for the beauty and excitement of train travel. Starring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman, the film sees three brothers reuniting in India and embarking on a luxury train journey together.
“I have often had the chance to invent train compartments and carriages in my movies,” Wes tells us. “So I was very eager to make something new while also participating in the process of preservation which accompanies all the classic Belmond train projects. They are keeping something special alive. An endangered species of travel which is nevertheless very suited to our time.”
Cygnus—a carriage built in the 1950s—has its fair share of cinematic history, featuring in the 1972 film Agatha starring Dustin Hoffman and Vanessa Redgrave. It is one of eleven on the British Pullman, whose carriages have hosted royalty, carried statesmen and survived World War II bomb raids over the years.
With his love of trains and passion for craftsmanship, Wes was tasked with balancing the history of the Cygnus carriage with his own bold and modern vision. The result is a carriage straight out of one of his films: stunningly symmetrical marquetry, bold rectilinear shapes and a feast of complementary colours.
With a pastel-pink ceiling detailing and a variety of green tones in the carpets and chairs, at first glance Cygnus feels like stepping onto one of the director’s film sets. Stunning marquetry work in numerous wood panels shows sunbeams, clouds, stars and waves.
Bold, sharp lines feature in the shape of the chairs and mirrors, adhering to the angular equilibrium the director is famed for. Eagle eyes will also spot the many swan details, referencing the carriage’s name and history.
Guests can ride in Cygnus on any journey on the British Pullman, a unique travel experience that rumbles across the rails all over England. Whether a murder mystery lunch through the Kent countryside or a sparkling dinner hosted by an up-and-coming guest chef, a ticket in Cygnus means you can experience the Golden Age of Travel while appreciating the beauty of modern design. With two private four-seat coupes or seats in the open carriage, the choice is yours.
https://www.belmond.com/trains/europe/uk/belmond-british-pullman/seating
Monday, February 17, 2020
"The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"--A New Film by Wes Anderson!
It is always a glorious day when I discover there is a new Wes Anderson film on the way! This trailer looks charming as usual--I love Anderson's color palette, and it appears that he is using his established repertory of players along with some great new faces like Elizabeth Moss, Geoffrey Wright, Timothée Chalamet, and Henry Winkler (!). I just can't wait for the release date of July 24, 2020...but I suppose I will have to.
https://www.searchlightpictures.com/thefrenchdispatch/
https://www.searchlightpictures.com/thefrenchdispatch/
Monday, September 7, 2015
Just watched...
...Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom."
I have said it before when I have written about "The Royal Tennenbaums," and "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," and "Fantastic Mr. Fox," and "The Grand Budapest Hotel:" I love the films of Wes Anderson. I love the retro, vintage feel he often achieves not only through story but also through art direction, costume, and music as well. Each film bears the unmistakable mark of Anderson yet each film exists in its own little self-contained milieu. "The Royal Tennenbaums" had an urban setting, "The Life Aquatic" had a fantastic marine motif, "The Darjeeling Limited" careened through India and its culture, and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" was old-world Europe at its best. And for "Moonrise Kingdom," Anderson mines the look and sense of islands of the New England coast and the kitschy idea of wilderness scouting for adolescents.
Set in 1965, the story takes place on the tiny fictional island of New Penzance. We follow a runaway Khaki Scout (an Anderson take-off on Cub Scouts) named Sam (played with quirky unflappability by Jared Gilman) and his girlfriend Suzy (played with sullen gravitas by Kara Hayward). Both twelve-year olds are, in their own way, misfits or social outcasts, and together they decide to run away...to the other side of the island. Like most of Anderson's films, the story is by turns deadpan funny and poignantly touching. The cast of towering talent includes some newer faces to Anderson films (Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel) and some Anderson rep players (Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman) who have been around for many if not all of Anderson's tales.
And just like all of his other films, there is a literary-storybook connection in the presentation of the film (the clear, unobstructed head-on framing that Anderson loves lends it the look of illustrations from a young person's novel) as well as in the plot (Suzy runs away with a suitcase full of six of her favorite young adult novels). She also runs away with a portable record player to play a record her aunt got her in France: the groovy mid-sixties sound of "Le Temps de l'Amour" by Françoise Hardy. Music plays an important role in this film, imbuing it with a texture and spirit appropriate for each scene, location, and event. I love how we get to see children in a world before the internet. Anderson's kids read books, paint pictures, play outside...things kids just really don't do much of anymore. It is a reference to a more lyrical world, a more sensitive world.
And finally, "Moonrise Kingdom" is beautifully filmed (on 16mm with a golden hue like old Kodachrome snapshots) and exquisitely costumed, as all Anderson films are. Simple impressions of typical 1965 fashions are seen on all the characters but the real highlight is the Khaki Scout uniform, a delightful riff on scouting uniforms with all their little self-referential badges and pins and regalia. Bits of accessories fashioned from fur and leather, and scarf rings naively carved from wood give each scout uniform a personal touch, as though each child made parts of what he is wearing. The scouting motif is made complete with plaid tents, oars, axes, and lots of "cabin" and "lodge" paraphernalia.
After the pair are tracked and discovered, Sam and Suzy must face the consequences of their actions. In this way, "Moonrise Kingdom" is different from other Anderson films in that our protagonists are children and we get to see them essentially before they have grown into world-weary, burdened adults. The end result of the film for me feels lighter and more like a fairy tale than any of his other creations. At first I thought it was that the film was a bit fluffy, inconsequential, but upon reflection I see this is not the case. Anderson usually presents us with sad, discontented adults...and here we get to see them before the malaise sets in. But we are left rooting for them, naturally...
Recommend? Absolutely. It is sweet, charming, funny, silly, bittersweet, poignant. I'm so glad Anderson exists and that he makes such lovely films for the world.
http://www.moonrisekingdom.com/
I have said it before when I have written about "The Royal Tennenbaums," and "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," and "Fantastic Mr. Fox," and "The Grand Budapest Hotel:" I love the films of Wes Anderson. I love the retro, vintage feel he often achieves not only through story but also through art direction, costume, and music as well. Each film bears the unmistakable mark of Anderson yet each film exists in its own little self-contained milieu. "The Royal Tennenbaums" had an urban setting, "The Life Aquatic" had a fantastic marine motif, "The Darjeeling Limited" careened through India and its culture, and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" was old-world Europe at its best. And for "Moonrise Kingdom," Anderson mines the look and sense of islands of the New England coast and the kitschy idea of wilderness scouting for adolescents.
Set in 1965, the story takes place on the tiny fictional island of New Penzance. We follow a runaway Khaki Scout (an Anderson take-off on Cub Scouts) named Sam (played with quirky unflappability by Jared Gilman) and his girlfriend Suzy (played with sullen gravitas by Kara Hayward). Both twelve-year olds are, in their own way, misfits or social outcasts, and together they decide to run away...to the other side of the island. Like most of Anderson's films, the story is by turns deadpan funny and poignantly touching. The cast of towering talent includes some newer faces to Anderson films (Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel) and some Anderson rep players (Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman) who have been around for many if not all of Anderson's tales.
And just like all of his other films, there is a literary-storybook connection in the presentation of the film (the clear, unobstructed head-on framing that Anderson loves lends it the look of illustrations from a young person's novel) as well as in the plot (Suzy runs away with a suitcase full of six of her favorite young adult novels). She also runs away with a portable record player to play a record her aunt got her in France: the groovy mid-sixties sound of "Le Temps de l'Amour" by Françoise Hardy. Music plays an important role in this film, imbuing it with a texture and spirit appropriate for each scene, location, and event. I love how we get to see children in a world before the internet. Anderson's kids read books, paint pictures, play outside...things kids just really don't do much of anymore. It is a reference to a more lyrical world, a more sensitive world.
And finally, "Moonrise Kingdom" is beautifully filmed (on 16mm with a golden hue like old Kodachrome snapshots) and exquisitely costumed, as all Anderson films are. Simple impressions of typical 1965 fashions are seen on all the characters but the real highlight is the Khaki Scout uniform, a delightful riff on scouting uniforms with all their little self-referential badges and pins and regalia. Bits of accessories fashioned from fur and leather, and scarf rings naively carved from wood give each scout uniform a personal touch, as though each child made parts of what he is wearing. The scouting motif is made complete with plaid tents, oars, axes, and lots of "cabin" and "lodge" paraphernalia.
After the pair are tracked and discovered, Sam and Suzy must face the consequences of their actions. In this way, "Moonrise Kingdom" is different from other Anderson films in that our protagonists are children and we get to see them essentially before they have grown into world-weary, burdened adults. The end result of the film for me feels lighter and more like a fairy tale than any of his other creations. At first I thought it was that the film was a bit fluffy, inconsequential, but upon reflection I see this is not the case. Anderson usually presents us with sad, discontented adults...and here we get to see them before the malaise sets in. But we are left rooting for them, naturally...
Recommend? Absolutely. It is sweet, charming, funny, silly, bittersweet, poignant. I'm so glad Anderson exists and that he makes such lovely films for the world.
http://www.moonrisekingdom.com/
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Just RE-watched...
..."The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" written and directed by Wes Anderson in 2004.
I love the films of Wes Anderson and I especially love this one. Anderson has a way of combining wry, gentle humor with a genuine sense of emotion into a wholly unique and charming package, as evidenced by films like his recent "The Grand Budapest Hotel," as well as gems "The Royal Tennenbaums," and "The Darjeeling Limited."
His stories seem to have their genesis in exactly that milieu: the story. Many have the quality of a tale or fable. When one examines "The Royal Tennenbaums" for example, one sees that a book motif runs through that film: pages of a book open on to chapters, the first few sentences of which describe the action we are about to see; and most of the characters in that film are authors, academics or playwrights. And "The Grand Budapest Hotel" owes a great deal to literature and a literary ideal as well. Indeed, it is presented as a story within a story within a story within a story.
And "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" is not that different. It is generally filmed in Anderson's trademark symmetrical, wide-angle shots which lend the film a presentational tone, almost like illustrations of a children's book. The art direction, like every Anderson production is exquisite, with the locales and internal logic and look of the film creating a coherent statement that beautifully supports the film.
Loosely inspired by Jacques Cousteau and his ship The Calypso, we follow celebrity oceanographer and documentary filmmaker Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) aboard his ship The Belafonte. But Steve has figuratively run aground: his last documentary was a flop, his wife (Angelica Huston) has left him, his funding has disappeared, and his best friend and mentor was eaten by a mysterious, unseen fish that Steve swears is a new species of shark. And to this we add the sudden appearance of a grown man (Owen Wilson) who is probably his long-lost son and a reporter (Cate Blanchett) there to do a cover story for a magazine about Zissou, something which could buoy his failing career. It is a funny, bittersweet story. As part of the soundtrack, Brazilian singer Seu Jorge who plays shipmate Pelé dos Santos performs David Bowie songs in Portuguese on the acoustic guitar, and the array of wild (and fictional) sea creatures that populate the periphery of the tale is amusing and tickling.
Recommend? YES! Fun, charming, moving, unique...watch it!
I love the films of Wes Anderson and I especially love this one. Anderson has a way of combining wry, gentle humor with a genuine sense of emotion into a wholly unique and charming package, as evidenced by films like his recent "The Grand Budapest Hotel," as well as gems "The Royal Tennenbaums," and "The Darjeeling Limited."
His stories seem to have their genesis in exactly that milieu: the story. Many have the quality of a tale or fable. When one examines "The Royal Tennenbaums" for example, one sees that a book motif runs through that film: pages of a book open on to chapters, the first few sentences of which describe the action we are about to see; and most of the characters in that film are authors, academics or playwrights. And "The Grand Budapest Hotel" owes a great deal to literature and a literary ideal as well. Indeed, it is presented as a story within a story within a story within a story.
And "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" is not that different. It is generally filmed in Anderson's trademark symmetrical, wide-angle shots which lend the film a presentational tone, almost like illustrations of a children's book. The art direction, like every Anderson production is exquisite, with the locales and internal logic and look of the film creating a coherent statement that beautifully supports the film.
Loosely inspired by Jacques Cousteau and his ship The Calypso, we follow celebrity oceanographer and documentary filmmaker Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) aboard his ship The Belafonte. But Steve has figuratively run aground: his last documentary was a flop, his wife (Angelica Huston) has left him, his funding has disappeared, and his best friend and mentor was eaten by a mysterious, unseen fish that Steve swears is a new species of shark. And to this we add the sudden appearance of a grown man (Owen Wilson) who is probably his long-lost son and a reporter (Cate Blanchett) there to do a cover story for a magazine about Zissou, something which could buoy his failing career. It is a funny, bittersweet story. As part of the soundtrack, Brazilian singer Seu Jorge who plays shipmate Pelé dos Santos performs David Bowie songs in Portuguese on the acoustic guitar, and the array of wild (and fictional) sea creatures that populate the periphery of the tale is amusing and tickling.
Recommend? YES! Fun, charming, moving, unique...watch it!
Friday, May 15, 2015
Bar Luce In Milan Designed By Wes Anderson
The Fondazione Prada, an offshoot of the Italian luxury brand, just opened a new "cultural complex" in Milan. The Foundation's Mission Statement:
"For the last two decades, the Fondazione Prada’s activities have analyzed intentions and relevance through an evolution of projects. These have included ‘Utopian’ monographic artist commissions, contemporary philosophy conferences, research exhibitions and initiatives related to the field of cinema. With the opening of a permanent cultural complex in Milano, the Fondazione offers new opportunities to enlarge and enrich our processes of learning."
Adjacent to the Foundation's new space is Bar Luce, a café/restaurant whose interior design was commissioned from acclaimed filmmaker Wes Anderson. As expected, Bar Luce reflects the director's sensibilities with retro grey Formica countertops, sea foam green booths with padding in colors of pink icing and pistachio green, and a 1950s style terrazzo floor. And I LOVE that there is a "Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" pinball machine!
The Bar Luce website describes it best:
"Designed by film director Wes Anderson, Bar Luce recreates the atmosphere of a typical Milanese cafè. Although his movies often favor symmetrical tableaux, Anderson feels that ‘there is no ideal angle for this space. It is for real life, and ought to have numerous good spots for eating, drinking, talking, reading, etc. While I do think it would make a pretty good movie set, I think it would be an even better place to write a movie. I tried to make it a bar I would want to spend my own non-fictional afternoons in.’
Some architectural and decorative details from the original structure have been preserved, such as the arched ceiling, which recreates a ‘miniature’ version of the vaulted glass roof of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, one of Milan’s symbolic buildings. Other key elements of the Galleria are replicated inside, creating a sort of patterned decoration for the top half of the bar.
In keeping with the interior design, the seats, formica furniture, floor, veneered wood wall panels and the range of colors employed are reminiscent of Italian popular culture and aesthetics from the 1950s and 1960s, echoing artistic decisions Anderson made years earlier for his short film ‘Castello Cavalcanti’. Other iconographic sources have been equally inspirational, notably two masterpieces of Italian Neorealism, both set in Milan: ‘Miracolo a Milano’ (Miracle in Milan, 1951, Vittorio De Sica) and ‘Rocco e i suoi fratelli’ (Rocco and His Brothers, 1960, Luchino Visconti).
The bar can be accessed directly from Via Orobia, and is meant to be a hotspot for the general public, as well as a regular neighborhood hangout.
Bar Luce is open daily, from 9AM to 10PM."
If you find yourself in Milan, drop in and tell us about it!
http://www.fondazioneprada.org/barluce-en/?lang=en
"For the last two decades, the Fondazione Prada’s activities have analyzed intentions and relevance through an evolution of projects. These have included ‘Utopian’ monographic artist commissions, contemporary philosophy conferences, research exhibitions and initiatives related to the field of cinema. With the opening of a permanent cultural complex in Milano, the Fondazione offers new opportunities to enlarge and enrich our processes of learning."
Adjacent to the Foundation's new space is Bar Luce, a café/restaurant whose interior design was commissioned from acclaimed filmmaker Wes Anderson. As expected, Bar Luce reflects the director's sensibilities with retro grey Formica countertops, sea foam green booths with padding in colors of pink icing and pistachio green, and a 1950s style terrazzo floor. And I LOVE that there is a "Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" pinball machine!
The Bar Luce website describes it best:
"Designed by film director Wes Anderson, Bar Luce recreates the atmosphere of a typical Milanese cafè. Although his movies often favor symmetrical tableaux, Anderson feels that ‘there is no ideal angle for this space. It is for real life, and ought to have numerous good spots for eating, drinking, talking, reading, etc. While I do think it would make a pretty good movie set, I think it would be an even better place to write a movie. I tried to make it a bar I would want to spend my own non-fictional afternoons in.’
Some architectural and decorative details from the original structure have been preserved, such as the arched ceiling, which recreates a ‘miniature’ version of the vaulted glass roof of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, one of Milan’s symbolic buildings. Other key elements of the Galleria are replicated inside, creating a sort of patterned decoration for the top half of the bar.
In keeping with the interior design, the seats, formica furniture, floor, veneered wood wall panels and the range of colors employed are reminiscent of Italian popular culture and aesthetics from the 1950s and 1960s, echoing artistic decisions Anderson made years earlier for his short film ‘Castello Cavalcanti’. Other iconographic sources have been equally inspirational, notably two masterpieces of Italian Neorealism, both set in Milan: ‘Miracolo a Milano’ (Miracle in Milan, 1951, Vittorio De Sica) and ‘Rocco e i suoi fratelli’ (Rocco and His Brothers, 1960, Luchino Visconti).
The bar can be accessed directly from Via Orobia, and is meant to be a hotspot for the general public, as well as a regular neighborhood hangout.
Bar Luce is open daily, from 9AM to 10PM."
If you find yourself in Milan, drop in and tell us about it!
http://www.fondazioneprada.org/barluce-en/?lang=en
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Just watched...
...Wes Anderson's absolutely charming "The Grand Budapest Hotel."
A Wes Anderson film is usually a cross between some kind of fairy tale and a piece of literature that is equal parts tragedy and straight-faced comedy. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” does not disappoint in that regard. It is rife with all of the Anderson-isms which make his films so charming, memorable, and special. But in it we have the added bonuses of a crime mystery, and an adventure story!
First, it might be helpful to clarify that the Budapest part of “The Grand Budapest Hotel” is not meant to be the actual city of Budapest. It is simply the name of the hotel where the tale takes place. And this fictional hotel is located high in the snowy Alps, in the fictional country of Zubrowka.
Much like Anderson’s previous film “The Royal Tennenbaums” (a book motif runs through that film: we see pages of a book open on to chapters, the first few sentences of which describe the action we are about to see; and most of the characters in that film are authors, academics or playwrights), “The Grand Budapest Hotel” owes a great deal to literature and a literary ideal. Indeed, it is presented as a story within a story within a story within a story. Anderson, in the credits, says the film is inspired by the work of Austrian author Stefan Zweig (1881 - 1942), who used this device in many of his short stories, and in particular his novel BEWARE OF PITY.
A young girl in the present visits a monument to The Author in an unidentified Eastern European city, and sits to read a chapter of his book he wrote about The Grand Budapest Hotel. We go back in time to 1985 to see The Author before his death, about to read his story to a video camera. Then another jump back in time to 1968 when he visited the Grand Budapest and met the owner of the establishment; the owner related a fantastical adventurous story to the author. And in our final jump back in time, we see our main story itself, set in 1932. It’s a touching device that suggests the imperceptible ways our stories live on, the way we touch other lives without knowing or even guessing that we ever could.
Once we are safely ensconced in 1932, we follow the concierge of The Grand Budapest, one Gustave H, through his exploits of loving a coterie of older women who come to stay at The Grand Budapest, many of them solely to spend time with Gustave. An untimely death, a police chase, good guys/bad guys, pre-World War II references to Fascism/Nazism and the looming ethnic cleansing, a love story, a smattering of slapstick, delectable pastries reminiscent of Ladurée, and the pastry colored hotel itself are swirled together in a delightful, fast-paced fable/fictional memoir.
The cast couldn’t be more stellar: Ralph Fiennes, Adrian Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Edward Norton, F. Murray Abraham, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, a nearly unrecognizable Tilda Swinton, Owen Wilson, Bob Balaban, Tony Revolori, and Saoirse Ronan. All the details are stunning, as they are in every Anderson film. The production design is exquisite (marvelous color palette and costume design) and the period details are correct without being “only” a period film. Anderson’s colors, fable-like syntax, and highly stylized framing (see the wonderful Kogonanda video survey below) keeps it in Anderson-land. He manages to create entire, self-referencing worlds that run on their own internal logic; a satisfying and monumental feat for any artist in any medium.
Recommend? Yes. It is a fun romp with a sort of melancholy, unsettling core. Anderson’s vision is a quirky one to most people, so understand that you are going to see a unique experience, one that is not easily categorized or identified.
http://www.grandbudapesthotel.com/
And from Kogonada, we get a glimpse of the exquisite Anderson framing.
http://kogonada.com/
A Wes Anderson film is usually a cross between some kind of fairy tale and a piece of literature that is equal parts tragedy and straight-faced comedy. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” does not disappoint in that regard. It is rife with all of the Anderson-isms which make his films so charming, memorable, and special. But in it we have the added bonuses of a crime mystery, and an adventure story!
First, it might be helpful to clarify that the Budapest part of “The Grand Budapest Hotel” is not meant to be the actual city of Budapest. It is simply the name of the hotel where the tale takes place. And this fictional hotel is located high in the snowy Alps, in the fictional country of Zubrowka.
Much like Anderson’s previous film “The Royal Tennenbaums” (a book motif runs through that film: we see pages of a book open on to chapters, the first few sentences of which describe the action we are about to see; and most of the characters in that film are authors, academics or playwrights), “The Grand Budapest Hotel” owes a great deal to literature and a literary ideal. Indeed, it is presented as a story within a story within a story within a story. Anderson, in the credits, says the film is inspired by the work of Austrian author Stefan Zweig (1881 - 1942), who used this device in many of his short stories, and in particular his novel BEWARE OF PITY.
A young girl in the present visits a monument to The Author in an unidentified Eastern European city, and sits to read a chapter of his book he wrote about The Grand Budapest Hotel. We go back in time to 1985 to see The Author before his death, about to read his story to a video camera. Then another jump back in time to 1968 when he visited the Grand Budapest and met the owner of the establishment; the owner related a fantastical adventurous story to the author. And in our final jump back in time, we see our main story itself, set in 1932. It’s a touching device that suggests the imperceptible ways our stories live on, the way we touch other lives without knowing or even guessing that we ever could.
Once we are safely ensconced in 1932, we follow the concierge of The Grand Budapest, one Gustave H, through his exploits of loving a coterie of older women who come to stay at The Grand Budapest, many of them solely to spend time with Gustave. An untimely death, a police chase, good guys/bad guys, pre-World War II references to Fascism/Nazism and the looming ethnic cleansing, a love story, a smattering of slapstick, delectable pastries reminiscent of Ladurée, and the pastry colored hotel itself are swirled together in a delightful, fast-paced fable/fictional memoir.
The cast couldn’t be more stellar: Ralph Fiennes, Adrian Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Edward Norton, F. Murray Abraham, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, a nearly unrecognizable Tilda Swinton, Owen Wilson, Bob Balaban, Tony Revolori, and Saoirse Ronan. All the details are stunning, as they are in every Anderson film. The production design is exquisite (marvelous color palette and costume design) and the period details are correct without being “only” a period film. Anderson’s colors, fable-like syntax, and highly stylized framing (see the wonderful Kogonanda video survey below) keeps it in Anderson-land. He manages to create entire, self-referencing worlds that run on their own internal logic; a satisfying and monumental feat for any artist in any medium.
Recommend? Yes. It is a fun romp with a sort of melancholy, unsettling core. Anderson’s vision is a quirky one to most people, so understand that you are going to see a unique experience, one that is not easily categorized or identified.
http://www.grandbudapesthotel.com/
And from Kogonada, we get a glimpse of the exquisite Anderson framing.
http://kogonada.com/
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Just RE-watched...
...“The Royal Tenenbaums” directed by Wes Anderson.
After encountering the delightful “Fantastic Mr. Fox” a few weeks ago, I was happy to have a chance to re-watch one of Wes Anderson’s early films, “The Royal Tenenbaums.”
As I mentioned in the post about “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Wes Anderson films are quirky, sweet, touching and honest and this one is no exception. “The Royal Tenenbaums” is also smart and unflinching. The characters, each so unique, strange and fragile in their chosen “uniform” of ill-fitting and out-of-date clothing, are presented in such a deadpan way. We approach each one head-on, honestly, and accept each flaw and absurdity. We also approach many characters and scenes head-on as well. Anderson has a penchant for filming scenes not over-the-shoulder but face to face. It is a disarming tactic which feels raw and intimate.
The cast is phenomenal. No one plays “absurd,” no one plays “funny,” which grounds the film. If anyone had played anything other than the total reality of the situation, it would have been demeaning not only to the audience but also to these characters and their souls. Each actor completely honors who he or she is. Although everyone is marvelous, I particularly want to point out Anjelica Huston who is awesomely and beautifully subtle and understated as the matriarch of the Tenenbaum family.
The story itself feels very literary, aside from the fact that many characters are authors, academics or playwrights. Indeed, there is a book motif that runs through the film: we see pages of a book open on to chapters, the first few sentences of which describe the action we are about to see. It is a device that feels almost like we are reading a children’s story. There is a “fable”-quality to this film. There is even a piece of back-story—Margot and Richie running away and hiding in a museum—based on an actual children’s book, FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER. (That is why it felt like a perfect fit for him to adapt Roald Dahl's FANTASTIC MR. FOX for the screen.)
The entire package of this film is charmingly askew and tenderly forgiving.
Recommend? YES!
After encountering the delightful “Fantastic Mr. Fox” a few weeks ago, I was happy to have a chance to re-watch one of Wes Anderson’s early films, “The Royal Tenenbaums.”As I mentioned in the post about “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Wes Anderson films are quirky, sweet, touching and honest and this one is no exception. “The Royal Tenenbaums” is also smart and unflinching. The characters, each so unique, strange and fragile in their chosen “uniform” of ill-fitting and out-of-date clothing, are presented in such a deadpan way. We approach each one head-on, honestly, and accept each flaw and absurdity. We also approach many characters and scenes head-on as well. Anderson has a penchant for filming scenes not over-the-shoulder but face to face. It is a disarming tactic which feels raw and intimate.
The cast is phenomenal. No one plays “absurd,” no one plays “funny,” which grounds the film. If anyone had played anything other than the total reality of the situation, it would have been demeaning not only to the audience but also to these characters and their souls. Each actor completely honors who he or she is. Although everyone is marvelous, I particularly want to point out Anjelica Huston who is awesomely and beautifully subtle and understated as the matriarch of the Tenenbaum family.
The story itself feels very literary, aside from the fact that many characters are authors, academics or playwrights. Indeed, there is a book motif that runs through the film: we see pages of a book open on to chapters, the first few sentences of which describe the action we are about to see. It is a device that feels almost like we are reading a children’s story. There is a “fable”-quality to this film. There is even a piece of back-story—Margot and Richie running away and hiding in a museum—based on an actual children’s book, FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER. (That is why it felt like a perfect fit for him to adapt Roald Dahl's FANTASTIC MR. FOX for the screen.)
The entire package of this film is charmingly askew and tenderly forgiving.
Recommend? YES!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Just watched...
..."Fantastic Mr. Fox" directed by Wes Anderson.
I love the films of Wes Anderson: "The Royal Tennenbaums," "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou," and "The Darjeeling Limited." They are quirky, sweet, touching and honest. So it was a tremendous pleasure to see his filmed version of this classic children's story by the wickedly subversive Roald Dahl, author of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.
The story, which children will enjoy but which was not neccessarily made with children in mind, is sweet and kooky. But what made it truly memorable was the fact that it was made in such an "old-fashioned" way: in stop-motion and NOT CGI. It is such a beautifullly hand-crafted look, lovingly rendered--so warm, real, rich and full of life. It reminds me of the kind of holiday specials I grew up watching on television, where puppeteers painstakingly moved models with an inner armature one frame at a time. When you watch Mr. Fox move, you can see the fur move on his face and the fabric of his jacket crinkle as he turns. It's a lovely effect, and a nice, welcome respite from the often too-slick blur of CGI.
And the film boasts a stellar voice-over cast: George Clooney as Mr. Fox, and Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox, along with Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Michael Gambon, and Owen Wilson. Several of these actors are familiar faces from other Anderson films.
The lovely thing about "children's films" is that the story moves right along, from one thrilling event to another. The running time for "Fantastic Mr. Fox" is listed at 87 minutes, but it felt less than half that... it whizzed by.
See the trailers for yourself at the official website:
http://www.fantasticmrfoxmovie.com/
The "making-of" featurettes are fascinating as well!
Recommend? If you like delightful, charming, hand-crafted animation, by all means!
I love the films of Wes Anderson: "The Royal Tennenbaums," "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou," and "The Darjeeling Limited." They are quirky, sweet, touching and honest. So it was a tremendous pleasure to see his filmed version of this classic children's story by the wickedly subversive Roald Dahl, author of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.The story, which children will enjoy but which was not neccessarily made with children in mind, is sweet and kooky. But what made it truly memorable was the fact that it was made in such an "old-fashioned" way: in stop-motion and NOT CGI. It is such a beautifullly hand-crafted look, lovingly rendered--so warm, real, rich and full of life. It reminds me of the kind of holiday specials I grew up watching on television, where puppeteers painstakingly moved models with an inner armature one frame at a time. When you watch Mr. Fox move, you can see the fur move on his face and the fabric of his jacket crinkle as he turns. It's a lovely effect, and a nice, welcome respite from the often too-slick blur of CGI.
And the film boasts a stellar voice-over cast: George Clooney as Mr. Fox, and Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox, along with Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Michael Gambon, and Owen Wilson. Several of these actors are familiar faces from other Anderson films.
The lovely thing about "children's films" is that the story moves right along, from one thrilling event to another. The running time for "Fantastic Mr. Fox" is listed at 87 minutes, but it felt less than half that... it whizzed by.
See the trailers for yourself at the official website:
http://www.fantasticmrfoxmovie.com/
The "making-of" featurettes are fascinating as well!
Recommend? If you like delightful, charming, hand-crafted animation, by all means!
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