Dazzling Visuals To The Rescue

Rating: 7/10 (25 January 2015)

Another drolly twee film from Wes Anderson, better than some of his previous work ("The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou", "Rushmore") but not nearly as good as others ("The Royal Tenenbaums", "The Fantastic Mr. Fox"). Here, he assembles a mighty cast, with Ralph Fiennes starring as the fastidious and ambiguous manager of a distant eastern European hotel (located in the fictitious Republic of Zubrowka; the action takes place between world wars), whose care of his guests extends beyond the usual service and who gets involved with the nefarious family of one of his elderly lovers, led by son Adrian Brody (who, by wearing pseudo-Nazi clothing, unthinkably undermines his most famous role, the persecuted Jew of "The Pianist"). This being Anderson, it's all about cadence: he expends an awful lot of energy synchronizing his actors' responses and the rhythms of the music (a winning score by Alexandre Desplat). But really, that's all it's about--the film is completely inconsequential nonsense. Sure, it's entertaining while you're watching it but you're completely aware that what you're watching has no real substance. All the performers competently perform to Anderson's stylized, obsessive/compulsive standards but the true stars of the film are Adam Stockhausen's gorgeous production design, Anna Pinnock's intricate set decoration and the fun art direction, led by Stephan O. Gessler: it's easy to get lost in the dazzling visuals, especially when there's no real need to pay attention to what's going on in the forefront. Conceivably, it may even be better with no sound--certainly, the overall design recalls the era of silent film.