Tricks and Treats...

Rating: 9/10 (12 June 2017)

In a fictional country whose name might earn 100 points on the Scrabble, one of these typical points in the map that started the century in the Austrian-Hungarian splendor and ended up in Soviet austerity, there is a hotel. In this hotel that used to be the place-to-be to all the visitors from Europe, there was a professional, no-nonsense but not without a debonair quality of his own, concierge, his name was Gustav. He had a lust for aging blonde socialites, and from the way he explains it, it's something that requires the taste of a gourmet.
There's also a timid but motivated lobby boy named Zero, a baker named Mendl, a murder, a jail sentence, inheritance, family plots and many other ingredients of a real pastry of movie whose story and tone will get over the heads of those who expect something with a plot. Well, that's not what the film is about, it has the old-fashioned charm of Golden Age Hollywood movies, but with a sense of self-conscious wit that gives it a modern touch of originality. It is weird, it is old, you wouldn't believe this is a 2014 movie but like Gustav' tastes, it takes a gourmet to appreciate it.
There's something delightfully refreshing in "The Grand Budapest Hotel" in the way it doesn't call for any particular analysis, and provides nothing that can encourage your mind to venture into intellectual considerations. This film is meant for pure visual and narrative entertainment and all you have to do is imagining yourself checking in a hotel where all your wishes will be granted, you don't even have to think, it's all in the 'wait and see' premise.
There's also a leitmotif in the film consisting on a delicious pastry, from renowned baker Mendl, who looks and tastes good and is so appealing in any way that when it is sent to a jail pensioner, the man in charge of checking if there's no outbreak device hidden in food, doesn't even let his butcher knife spoil the visuals. This is almost a metaphor to Wes Anderson's aesthetic power, one you don't want to butcher with 'thinking'. You don't need and you shouldn't, because if you try, you're likely to find yourself in some sort of private joke you're the only one not to get.
So, embrace that big joke of a film, that shaggy-dog story where each shot, looks like the vignette of a comic-book, enjoy the dry with of Ralph Fiennes in his greatest comedic performance since "In Bruges" and don't take the whole thing seriously. The only serious aspect about it is that the film is a visual masterpiece with a unique use of colors, contrasts and environment shots, Anderson is a director, who like Jeunet in "Amélie" knows how to make people move in an environment, whether a hotel lobby, a jail or a mountain. Actually, he even know how to make them static, in the middle of a frame, looking at the camera but never breaking the fourth wall, quite a stunt, really.
Other moments come in mind, an exchange of punches that look like the frame never moves yet three or four guys end up on the floor, there's a suspenseful moment over a ravine where a man breaks the ice to make Gustav fall only to be thrown away and fall while spinning like in a Tex Avery cartoon. The juxtapositions between shots is another trick cherished by Anderson, a group of escaping prisoners look down over a hole they just opened, the next shot features the exact opposite with guards. I mentioned comic-books, the film's story board would have made a terrific one. The uses of costume is another aspect that immediately associates the film with the animated world, nothing is too wacky or over-the-top if it means a great-looking shot or a hilarious gag, or both.
The film is also known for his ensemble star-cast and indeed, it's part of the publicity, it would take a whole paragraph to list all the actors, but the thing is that the film owes them nothing, they're giving their best shot even for a few minutes of screen-time (Bill Murray doesn't have more than a minute but he steals that minute) because they know the film is good enough to have fun with it. It was Ebert who mentioned in his show with Siskel that there was nothing better than seeing actors having fun with their characters, the film would highlight that 'fun' aspect. We know actors love rely on disguises, phony accents and go beyond their usual method acting just to make fun of their own shtick. That's how refreshing the tone of Anderson is. The film would garner 11 Oscar nominations, the most with "Birdman" but not one for acting. Fair enough.
And as star-studded as it is, Anderson was wise enough to cast a relatively unknown young fellow (Tony Rivelori) for the central role of awkward lobby boy Zero (his old counterpart is played by F. Murray Abraham), Zero doesn't have any physical appeal, he's not even competent, but he's totally devoted to his Master Gustav and that is the key to their relationship, he's his eyes and ears during his absence in prison and together, they lead a heart-pounding adventure with the dawn of the War as a backdrop. Their relationship, which is one of the mentor and master can be very inspiring at time, even poignant, so maybe there are a few things to appreciate beyond the zaniness, after all.
But apart from that, it's a film that can be tasted like a treat and full of tricks whose only purpose is to make you laugh, the whole thing wrapped up in a sumptuous visual package à la Anderson, a cinematic Mendl. "The Grand Budapest" is all about intellectual detachment, visual entertainment, and fun, fun and fun, tricks and treats, really.