Fairy tales in war

Keegan 2021-10-19 09:52:03

Wes Anderson, who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, turned the Budapest Hotel into a pink dollhouse for 7 or 8 year old girls. Turn the murder of Agatha Christie into a delirious operetta. It turned the ice and snow before the bloody storm into a training camp for the Winter Olympics. It turned Xiao Shengke's redemption into four fox fathers. Turn the magical Ralph Fiennes into the equally magical Monsieur Gustave. Turned the prince Tilda Swinton into an 84-year-old grandmother and aristocrat with a strong sexual desire.

The Grand Budapest Hotel, this gorgeous, luxurious but lonely hotel, is located in the fictional snow-capped Zubrowka in an equally absurd pre-war Central European country. The hotel spa is made up of mysterious disabled persons, war criminals, or impoverished Belarusians-reminiscent of novels by Thomas Mann and Vladimir Nabokov in the context of World War II. But the repertoire at the end revealed that Zweig was the inspiration for Anderson, thanks to "Chess Story" and "Post Office Girl". In fact, the movie star Ralph Fiennes with scumbags is quite similar to Zweig.

The plot of the story looks like an Agatha-style legacy murder, but it is actually a reflection on the war. But unlike Zweig’s pessimism, Anderson is patient optimism. At the end of the film, he left the huge red hotel to zero refugees who were frightened by the war. And let me believe that love is eternal for a moment.

As always, Anderson’s world is like the most magnificent and exquisite doll house; incredible shooting locations, interiors and old-fashioned matte spray paint backgrounds, delicate to critical props, cartoon-like illustrations, and fixed-camera shooting tapes The rhythmic picture switching is like reading a fairy tale for us with rhythm. It makes the audience feel like giants bending over to admire a superbly detailed small universe. It is as if the lens is pulled to a centimeter of detail, as if every snowflake is a neat hexagonal chip.

If Zweig watched this film, should he reconsider the desperate matter? Just like Monsieur Gustave, the first thing after breaking out is to use a cologne from L'Air de Panache. No matter how close war, prison, and death are, from the perspective of Director Anderson, life will always have poetic and beautiful details that make people happy only in the world of the subject.

-Some excerpts from the Guardian film review.

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Extended Reading
  • Kasandra 2021-10-20 18:59:26

    In fact, watching Anderson’s movies now, I always struggle between "How do I get tired of shooting like this" and "The picture is so beautiful, the smile is really good". As a fan, I recognize it (of course, if he becomes different in the future, I will be happier). This time, there is no neurotic fairy tale. Instead, he draws inspiration from Zweig's works and tells a nostalgic, wonderful and touching story in his own way, full of feelings.

  • Selmer 2022-03-23 09:01:15

    Anderson did not disappoint. The fairy tale color of the same line, the smarter and brave legends, the high-speed editing and unique humor make the old-fashioned thief escape Zhaoxue vivid and not lacking in fun. When the style is self-contained and can be recognized at a glance, Zhuo Ran is above the many directors of the same generation, and has captured many young and middle-aged fans, and Anderson has truly become a master.

The Grand Budapest Hotel quotes

  • M. Gustave: If this do be the end, "Farewell!" cried the wounded piper-boy...

    [Jopling stomps]

    M. Gustave: ...whilst the muskets cracked, and the yeomen roared "Hurrah", and the ramparts fell...

    [Jopling stomps]

    M. Gustave: "Methinks me breathes me last, me fears!" said he...

    [Zero pushes Jopling from behind; Jopling falls screaming over M. Gustave's head]

    M. Gustave: Holy shit, you got him!

  • M. Gustave: [sees soldiers enter the hotel] The beginning of the end of the end of the beginning has begun. A sad finale played off-key on a broken-down saloon piano in the outskirts of a forgotten ghost town. I'd rather not bear witness to such blasphemy.

    Zero: Me neither.

    M. Gustave: The Grand Budapest has become a troops' barracks. I shall never cross its threshold again in my lifetime.

    Zero: Me neither.

    M. Gustave: Never again shall I...

    [Zero spots Agatha]

    Zero: Actually I think we might be going in there right now after all!