Pastel Colours and Murder

Many directors have a distinct style. Many of you will remember the review on Baz Luhrman's The Great Gatsby on this blog, and how it claimed the film was dripping with the director's unique visual aesthetic, for example. Well today we look at another director with a very clear set of stylistic trademarks in his telling of the story of a man telling the story of how he heard a story from a man. This is The Grand Budapest Hotel.

The Author, a man whose words have meant the world to some, wants to now tell us, the audience, how he came across those words. Flashback. A younger author (Jude Law) is suffering from a very real - cough - disorder and resorts to staying in The Grand Budapest Hotel, a run-down shell of its previous majesty. Whilst there, he meets Zero Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham), the owner of the hotel, who offers to tell The Author his story. Flashback again, to 1932, where a teenage Zero (Tony Revolori) is the new lobby boy for the hotel under the watchful eye of concierge, M. Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes). When a client of the hotel, and a close acquaintance of Gustave, Madame C.V.D.u.T (Tilda Swinton) dies, the pair of hotel workers are thrown into a battle of greed and selfishness with her son Dmitri (Adrien Brody) and along their adventure they meet all sorts of personalities like an army inspector, an artistically gifted criminal, and a concierge that can get you anything from (in the forms of Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, and Bill Murray respectively).

'Uh, just checking the wall was safe...'

With a cast so numerous in stars that hold Oscar statues or nominations (including a nigh invisible cameo from Jean Dujardin), it is difficult to imagine anything less than top level performances from all the cast, and The Grand Budapest Hotel does not disappoint. First and foremost is the absolutely fantastic Ralph Fiennes. His perfect combination of charm, bluntness, and crisp diction (not to mention his campness) are a delight to behold. A man so wonderful, he can make the biggest brutes in prison his assistants. Along with rookie Tony Revolori, the pair keep the film rattling on at a frightful fun pace, visiting prisons, mountains, strange cult-like churches all whilst on the run from wicked Adrien Brody and terrifying Willem Dafoe.

Zero was feeling a bit boxed in.

But as is the case with all Wes Anderson's films, it is the production, the beauty with which the film is crafted that stands out. The pastel colours and symmetrical images create a dreamlike landscape which you will wish you would be absorbed into. If life were as wonderful as The Grand Budapest Hotel makes it seem, we would live in a wonderland of pinks and baby blues. Coupled together with a touching and hilarious screenplay, Anderson uses all the possibilities that the medium offers him to make his story as engaging as it can be. Colour, aspect ratios, camera positioning, and sound are just a few of the elements that Anderson uses as part of his playground.

Easily one of the finest and most entertaining 100 minutes of 2014.* A treat for any viewer, old or young, for academia of for leisure. Rest assured, The Grand Budapest Hotel is art.

Best Bit? The film is so packed with 'best bits' that is nigh impossible to chose. I'll leave you to make your own mind up.

*So good, it promoted this blogger to buy his first ever Blu-Ray. 

History In Paris

Every so often a film comes out that people are aware of, but no one seems to know what it is. For me, this was Midnight in Paris. I knew of it, but I wasn't sure what it was going to be or if it would even be any good. I sat down to watch it, completely clueless about what I should expect. Knowing it was nominated for four Oscars (Direction, Screenplay, Art Direction and Picture, and it being recommended to me by several people, I was getting rather excited for it. So does it live up to its, somewhat secretive, hype?

The film opens with a variety of shots showing Paris throughout the day, right through until midnight. We then get thrown into writer, Gil, (Owen Wilson) and his fiancée, Inez, (Rachel McAdams) life as they are visiting Paris. Gil wants to move to Paris once they are married but Inez disagrees. Gil truly believes that living in Paris will do wonders for his creativity so that he can move on from screenplays and write proper literature. While in Paris, the couple hit some speed bumps. Gil has problems with his novel, old friends Carol (Nina Arianda) and pedantic academic Paul (Michael Sheen) begin to take over their time, Gil and Inez’s parents disagree on very fundamental things. Gil gets stressed by all this and goes for a midnight stroll. On this stroll, he is picked up by a car on the dot of midnight that takes him back in time to the 20s, what Gil considers to be the Golden era. The film tells the story of a man meeting his idols and taking a journey of discovery in both art, and life. 

The Hangover Part III was going to be slightly more formal.

I think it is completely safe to claim that this is Owen Wilson's best performance to date. He is absolutely perfect in this role. Admittedly, Woody Allen did rewrite the role for him, but that's unimportant. He is a perfect combination of charming, lovable, accepting, and, most importantly, real. There's something very real about Wilson's performance. Gil is a hardly a character; he is completely believable as a real man. He comes to life through Wilson. The rest of the cast are excellent too. It's nice to see familiar faces popping up in supporting roles throughout the movie. Tom Hiddleston appears as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Alison Pill (a.k.a Kim (a.k.a the drummer) from Scott Pilgrim) is his emotionally unstable spouse. Adrien Brody appears as a very funny and surreal Salvador Dali, or DAH-LEE, as he exclaims when he meets Gil. Kathy Bates and Marion Cotillard play important parts in Gil's adventures as Gertrude Stein and Adriana respectively. Also performing to perfection is Michael Sheen as Paul. His perfectly agitating character is a brilliant example of a person who does nothing seriously wrong except conform to all of your pet peeves. A nice guy who you cannot stand captured perfectly.

'I swear, the fish was this big'

This is screenplay writing at it's best. A solid contender for the Screenplay Oscar. The dialogue is completely flawless and smooth (except when it's not meant to be) and it touches every emotion the heart can feel. It blends fiction and fact sublimely. This is Woody Allen on form. The score and soundtrack are absolutely wonderful. There's either a French heart or an upbeat 1920s rhythm to every song that plays and it is an example of the music perfectly setting the scene in a movie. The camera work shows some glimpses of beauty. There's a wonderful tracking shot early in the movie that perfectly follows Gil, Inez, Paul, and Carol as they wander French monuments. It's cheating I suppose, to shoot a movie in Paris, as every shot is guaranteed to look wonderful. This is some of Woody Allen's best directing in a long time and will be placed just under the likes of Annie Hall and Manhatten.

A delightfully charming, exceptionally witty, and wonderfully satisfying piece of cinema. It is submerged in art and literature and drips culture but doesn’t require its audience to be pretentious art collectors. At points it’s hilarious and at others, very touching. A great story told in a fantastic way. Owen Wilson at his best and Woody Allen returning to form. A perfectly solid film. Completely enjoyable. Definitely one of the most all–round decent films of 2011. A must see. 

Best bit? This is really hard. There's a wonderful laugh out loud joke at the very end, but I'll go with the discussions over Picasso's Adriana; firstly in the 1920s and then again in 2010. Classic.