A Story Of Legacy, Companionship, Loyalty And Greed.

Rating: 9/10 (24 August 2019)

Written and directed by Wes Anderson. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (set in the fictional war-torn European country Zubrowka in the 1930s) tells the story of two people: Monsieur Gustave H., a concierge, and one of his employees, the lobby boy Zero. Showcasing the friendship they form as they team up for several misadventures while trying to prove Gustave's innocence after he was framed for murder.
So I love Wes Anderson. I was introduced to him by watching "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and falling in love with it. He's definitely got this style to him that is so up my alley it's not even funny. I CANNOT believe I haven't seen this film until recently, it's so damn good. Literally everything about it visually was perfection. The framing of the film, bright color scape, gorgeous sets. There are many moments in this film where I just wanted to pause it and stare at the screen. I'm not sure how much of this film is filmed on an actual built set, if anything was physically built for this I'll be very impressed. But either way I'm impressed honestly.
I'm a sucker for good camerawork. This movie has a lot of it, meaning every single shot is intriguing. Whip pans, quick zoom ins, tracking shots, etc. Like "The Favourite" it made me drool and I'm not ashamed of that. There's a particular shot that included a character getting into a trolley car and we see a motorbike reflected onto a window with the shade dropped down. Such clever ways of showing us what's happening in the scene without making it grossly apparent. The accompaniment of classic Wes Anderson score adds to every scene as well, heavy strings.
The way that the narration is constructed throughout this film is fantastic, it made the movie very engaging while also looking stunning. There's this quick whit to it along with fast paced story-telling. The dialogue is genius. When the movie gets going, it gets going dude! It's essentially a tale of legacy, companionship, loyalty and greed. But we also get this small subplot of a super group of hotel managers and their bellboys. It had me dying! The acting was overall good, but Ralph Fiennes really shines here. His character was so well written! Even though some of the actors didn't have much to do on screen, when they did it was apparent.
I also can't talk about this movie without mentioning the superb costume design. I really wanted that purple petticoat so bad! I know the movie got academy awards for costuming and makeup so I'm glad that got recognized. Though the ending felt slightly abrupt, the film is fantastic. Wes Anderson is a master at his craft and I definitely need to watch his other films to fully immerse myself.