Sophisticated, beautiful, funny, and bittersweet

Rating: 9/10 (17 May 2014)

Wes Anderson's stunning Grand Budapest Hotel is a treat for the eyes and years. It's visually gorgeous, as well as being witty, dark, and magnificently acted by a huge cast which includes Ralph Fiennes, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, F. Murray Abraham, Bill Murray, Fisher Stevens, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Law, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, and Willem Dafoe.
F. Murray Abraham plays the owner of the Grand Budapest, Zero Moustafa, who tells how it came to be his. In order to do that, he has to tell the story of the concierge, M. Gustave (Fiennes), who befriends Zero when he becomes a lobby boy. Gustave inherits a painting, Boy with Apple, from a wealthy older woman (Tilda Swinton) and, in the midst of a family fight for her fortune, takes off with it. Meantime, the world is entering the war.
Anderson has created an amazing universe that is like watching an MGM film with a foreign story back in the '30s, such as Idiot's Delight. It goes back to the days of exquisite service, enormous wealth and privilege, and idyllic beauty.
It's also hilariously funny, with Fiennes popping off the one liners and the young Zero (Tony Revolon) keeping a serious face throughout. Many of the scenes, including the ones in the prison, are priceless.
There's a dark and poignant undertone to The Grand Budapest Hotel because for all its wild characters and antics, it portrays a way of life that is no more.
Everyone is excellent, but Fiennes has the largest role and is fabulous -- elegant, funny, flirtatious, and demonstrating masterful timing. It's really a new side to him -- considering that I saw him do Hamlet on Broadway.
Terrific, don't miss it.