“There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. Indeed that’s what we provide in our own modest, humble, insignificant… oh fuck it.”

Hello :-)

Wes Anderson is back after ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ his critically acclaimed and most commercially successful venture since 2001’s ‘The Royal Tennenbaums’. Mr Anderson’s newest offering is ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’.

‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ is a Matryoshka doll of a film; it’s a story within a story within a story and possibly within another story… it’s hard to keep count.
The story proper begins in 1932 during the heyday of the Grand Budapest Hotel, when future hotel owner Zero Moustafa (the younger played by Tony Revolori and the elder played by F. Murray Abraham) worked as a lobby boy. The fictional home of the Grand Budapest, Zubrowka, is on the verge of war, but this is of little consequence to Monsieur Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes) the Grand Budapest's loyal concierge. When Gustave is left a priceless painting in the will of aged client Madame D he is framed for murder and wrongly imprisoned. What follows is a crime caper the likes of which only Anderson could produce.

In the giant weighing scales of life I’ve decided I like Wes Anderson. I find his idiosyncratic directorial style charming and refreshingly simplistic in terms of editing. That said his films do does have a tendency to waffle on about not very much and I wouldn’t be the first to say that sometimes he strays into ‘style over substance’.

The main thing ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ has going for it is Ralph Finnes as Gustave H. Better known for his highbrow roles (although ‘Grand Budapest’ is hardly lowest common denominator comedy…), Finnes fits perfectly into this caper comedy. He has superb timing and a deadpan delivery that works so wonderfully here.
His partner in crime (or, more accurately, in innocence) newcomer Tony Revolori is an excellent foil to Gustave’s wonderful camp-ness. Their on screen chemistry is the films biggest draw and a source of constant amusement.
There is the standard raft of cameos you’d associate with Anderson but they’re incredibly fleeting. Its fun to see the roster play out across the sprightly 99 minute run time but the core of the film is always Finnes and Revolori.

I’ll tell you what this film is; it’s not just a Russian doll, its candyfloss. Like a massive bag of candyfloss it’s great fun while you’re eating it but all of a sudden it’s gone and you’re still hungry. That’s pretty much how I felt with ‘Grand Budapest’. It ends really abruptly and you don’t really have a lot to show for it.

This film may not win any new Anderson fans to the cause but there’s a still lot to love. It looks gorgeous and Ralph Finnes taps into his funny with eminently watchable results. It doesn’t have the same emotional pull as ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ and ultimately doesn’t amount to much; fluff it may be, but at least it’s funny while it lasts.

Right then lets do some…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)
1. Frozen is the biggest animation in box office history. It’s now the 10th biggest grossing film of all time! It’s really really encouraging to see quality animation such as ‘Frozen’ making waves :-)

2. An ‘Alpha Papa’ sequel is in the works! Henry Normal, co-founder of Baby Cow, said there are plans for new episodes of an online series, Mid Morning Matters, as well as a new one-off programme for Sky, all exciting stuff :-)

That’s everything for now.

Goodbye till next time :-)
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