Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (25 April 2014)

No amount of superfluous adjectives give justice to the magic and whimsical spectacle that is the Grand Budapest Hotel. A theatrical masterpiece for the age, its whit and insight that of "Alice in Wonderland" being a social blueprint of days gone past from an age characterised by crumbling aristocracy brought down by personal vendetta and political crossfire. The Grand Hotel is a beacon for not only simpler times but where careful thought and attention to detail never escapes the graceful eye of Wes Anderson.
A humble lobby boy, dutifully plays 2nd fiddle to the gallivanting Monsieur Gustave. An apprenticeship he is more than willing to undertake and displays heroism by being Gustave's unassuming personal valet. Their escapades and knack for seductive diplomacy with pinch of bluntness at the right moments, leaves their opponents dumbfounded and red-faced at being openly defied by Gustave's silver tongue.
Anderson marvels in the spotlight and intrigues viewers with his eccentricity and attention to detail. The cast is equally in captivity within the sumptuous surrounds of the scenery. As an audience we really are being killed with kindness and seduced by its grandeur. The protagonists' self sacrifice and service as Monsieur Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) as the noble concierge and patron of fine culture is certainly no pushover. His loyalty to his trade and his defiance to all that is brutish and uncivilised leaves him as an outsider, isolated in ideology yet unshakably determined that good intentions will always prevail. Nothing quite exceeds like excess, the beauty is in the detail.
The Grand Budapest Hotel is not immune to global forces of change, the tides of days past slowly drawing away. Perhaps nostalgic or even utopian, the isolation of the grand mountain resort for playboys and patronesses' conflicts with the mundane and mediocrity of common trivial matters of daily life. A fantasy camp caught up in stroking its own image of superiority of finer culture, the crumbling and dilapidated facade begins the story of how hands clamoured for an apple of purity which no amount of money or abrupt influence could be forced at to posses.
A truly marvellous and playful spectacle to see. Its eccentricity its edge.
TC