Scott Rudin Productions, Indian Paintbrush, Studio Babelsber
Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Edward Norton, Mathieu Amalric, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Léa Seydoux, Jeff Goldblum, Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Tony Revolori
A young writer (Jude Law) checks into the legendary Grand Budapest Hotel and finds it almost empty. He meets the man running the hotel who invites him to dinner for the story of why the hotel is still open and why he refuses to close it down. He then proceeds to tell the story of legendary owner Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes) and his chief lobby-boy/personal assistant Zero Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham/Tony Revolori). It’s a grand story of recovering a stolen masterpiece, and the battle over a family inheritance, set against the backdrop of a vastly changing Europe.
Wes Anderson (Director) is known for kind of “off kilter” films. When I watched this film, I think the other film that came to mind that reminded me of this style was “The Royal Tenenbaums”. Sure enough, another Wes Anderson film, as was “Moonrise Kingdom”, “The Aquatic Life with Steve Zissou. and even “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (which was one of my early reviews that got me in big trouble with a lot of people who loved this. I must admit Wes Anderson movies are a bit weird and hard to follow, but I must admit I kind of enjoyed this one a lot. First of all, there is a huge cast, with so many famous actors showing up to bring a lot of interest to the movie. Most of them are smaller parts, but still, they all add to the enjoyment. Then there’s the setting. Wes doesn’t like to do CGI that much, so most of what we see is either green screen, or more often models. The look of this movie is wonderful. The spectacular costuming and set design deserves a wealth of honors. The story if fast moving, and funny, even if many parts are ridiculous. Most of all, though this is based upon recorded history as to the larger events going on in Europe, it’s still a fantasy movie that really feels like we’re in a different magical world. All in all I found this a very interesting and enjoyable experience, and I am glad I watched it. If you can take the oddness of this film, you’ll probably enjoy it as well. If you seen it and have an opinion, feel free to use the comments section on this post, as I would be glad to hear different opinions on this movie. As for me, I liked it.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
