Not a Tripadvisor review

Rating: 10/10 (22 September 2019)

Wes Anderson had made a delightful offbeat art house film that never outstays its hospitality. It has a stamp of an assured filmmaker, confident of his eccentric style.
Mr Zero Moustafa (F Murray Abraham) recounts to a writer (Jude Law) his tale of the now faded Grand Budapest Hotel over dinner.
In 1932, the Grand Budapest Hotel was epitome of decadent and luxury somewhere in Eastern Europe. Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori) a refugee started out as a newly hired lobby boy. He is taken under the wing of the eccentric concierge Monsieur Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes.)
Gustave in effect runs the hotel and attends to the personal needs to some of the older ladies who stay in the hotel such as Madame D (Tilda Swinton.) When she dies, Gustave is bequeathed a valuable painting. Her son Dmitri (Adrien Brody) is far from pleased with this. Gustave is accused of the old lady's murder and Dmitri's henchman Jopling (Willem Dafoe) makes sure any irritant is disposed off quickly.
Wes Anderson has directed a whimsical and absurd black comedy with a camp performance from Fiennes that has a startling odour. It was a shame that he was not Oscar nominated. There are cameos from Anderson regulars such as Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Edward Norton. The story can get dark and murderous at times, it has an underlying sadness. You see proto fascists who demand to see papers of all the travellers on a train. Enough to parallel the real world of the 1930s.