The Grand Budapest, What a wild ride!

Rating: 6/10 (7 February 2015)

The notoriously quirky film director Wes Anderson strikes again with his latest academy award nominated film, The Grand Budapest Hotel. This film takes place in a fictional world set in the 1930's between World Wars and depicts the eccentric life of Gustave H (played by Ralph Fiennes), the hotels concierge and his sidekick known as lobby boy. As credit to Mr. Andersons talents he has assembled a star studded cast with brief appearances from major Hollywood actors such as Bill Murray, Jude Law, Owen Wilson, Edward Norton, and Willem Dafoe just to name a few. This film tells the humorous adventure story of a hotel concierge and his apprentice lobby boys' journey as they steal a priceless painting and attempt to outrun the many adversaries that try to get in their way. The underlying theme throughout this movie is bonding through mentorship. Although Gustave is not the best role model from a moral standpoint, he immediately sees himself in the young lobby by and takes him under his wing. Through their crazy adventures together they learn to rely on each other and eventually Gustave lets his young apprentice know how proud of him he is. Virtually every scene in this film ties back into the theme; these two characters are completely reliant on one another. A great example of this is the prison scene where lobby boy aids in Gustave's escape only to be lectured for not being prepared enough. Later in the film lobby boy saves the day when the pair sneak back into the hotel to retrieve their prized painting. While watching this film I am reminiscent of the theme in life aquatic (coincidently another Anderson film) where another corky character named Captain Zissou takes the crew under his wing for one last crazy journey teaching them along the way. Wes Anderson directs his films in a very unique way. The color used in this film is what really stood out to me as a viewer. Although this movie was a little dark in humor the colors were vivid and plentiful, perhaps purposely done to contrast the heavy parts of the storyline. The hotel itself is pink in a setting of a snowy and gray mountaintop town; this seems to underline the tone of the film perfectly. Another impressive technique in this film was the angles used. The director did a fantastic job of making the scary characters more daunting by shooting them from the ground up, specifically Joplin (Willem Dafoes character). The chase scenes made a very small man seem very scary by portraying him in dark colors and low angles giving off the appearance of extreme power and fear. In conclusion I feel this movie was very well directed and the storyline keeps the viewer interested. Although I don't care for this type of film it was interesting and at time hilarious. The theme stays consistent throughout this film and has a solid ending the leaves everyone happy.