Visual Vaudeville: All Star Variety Show is a Barrel of Fun!

Rating: 10/10 (9 April 2015)

Grand BUDAPEST Hotel, Berlin, Friday February 7, 2014. The big opening film of the 64th Berlin Film Festival was the world premiere of the much ballyhooed "GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL" which has nothing to do with Budapest or Hungary but is set in a mythical European country that could be Hungary, (with some Polish Signs) and is populated with a prestige all star cast: Ralph Fiennes as a hotel concierge in a thirties full buttons outfit like Johnny the bellhop who used to sail through the Philip Morris hotel lobby shouting "call for Phil-lipp Maw-aw-rey", Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, and a staggering lineup of other names Adrien Brody (The Pianist), Jeff Goldblum (The Fly), Ed Norton, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham (remember him from Amadeus, 1984?) — plus French stars Mathieu Amalric and Léa Seydoux — wow! How'd he get 'em all to sign up? Directed by Wes Anderson who can be counted on for absurd comical romps and is a favored son of this festival with previous entries such as "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" (the biggest bore of 2004) and "The Royal Tennenbaums" starring an obviously disgruntled Gene Hackman
GBH was far more fun than I expected it to be judging from certain mixed opinions that have come my way. I would play it as a double feature with Kubrick's "The Shining" for the contrastive use of an old Grand Hotel settings and for opposite cinematic purposes --- Fear and Fun! And then throw in the old Greta Garbo Grand Hotel itself... Director Wes Anderson who is no newcomer to the Berlinale, has marshaled every visual technique in the book to come up with a piece of Visual Vaudeville that is really lots of fun if not exactly too coherent -- but then why should an all-star Variety Show-- which is exactly what Budapest Hoteĺ is -- be anything but flippy and fun?
Part of the fun is trying to identify extremely well known actors in makeup and disguises so extravagant that it makes them well nigh unrecognizable: Harvey Keitel with a shaved head and naked torso covered with funny little tattoos, Jeff Goldbloom dressed up in a wig and high collar tweeds totally away from his usual image -- only the voice gives him away - -Polanski's Pianist Oscar laureate Adrien Brody so disguised that even his prominent proboscis goes unnoticed -- on and on to the point where the viewer keeps asking him- her-who-self; "Hey - wait a second -- wasn't that .... ?? -- altogether an hilarious off- season Halloween party and an easy sit through if not quite the most coherent motion picture of all time.
On stage introducing the pic tall comedian Bill Murray in a long black coat topped off with some kind of boxy black hat, and a regular presence in Wes Anderson pictures, told the Friedrich Palast audience categorically, in patented Murrayesque manner, "This is the best picture Wes has ever made. Don't even bother looking at the other competition Pictures -- This one is it!"
Wes Anderson's "Grand Budapest Hotel" is indeed one of the 23 entries competing for the prestigious Berlin Golden Bear award at the end of the fully packed ten days coming up. Whether Mr. Murray's broad statement turns out to be a fulfilled prophecy is an open question -- but nobody can deny that everybody had lots of fun tonight, and the Sixty- Fourth Berlin Film Festival is off and running ~~ Fasten your seat belts and enjoooooy! -- or else!
PS: The grand opener, Wes Anderson's "Grand Budapest Hotel" was awarded the so called "Grand Jury Prize" which seems to be some kind of special recognition (booby prize?) for a film that should have won the Golden Bear Best Film award but was too good for its own good at this politically inclined festival which prefers to recognize obscure films from the Twilight Zones of the inscrutable East whenever possible.
The adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous hotel from the fictional Republic of Zubrowka between the first and second World Wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.
Ps: Żubrowka is the name of a popular brand if Polish Vodk