A hotel well worth a gander

Rating: 9/10 (16 March 2014)

Checking into a room in your local Premier Inn conjures up feelings of weariness, unpredictability and Lenny Henry cautiousness. Case in point (on in the hands of a hotel baggage handler) you never know what you're going to expect which is precisely the attraction of Wes Anderson's (Fantastic Mr Fox) dramatic comedic sensation, The Grand Budapest Hotel; a film definitely worthy of a night in the cinema. Such a refreshing and genuinely decent film, The Grand Budapest contains enough well-crafted scenes and laugh out loud jolliness to make it well worth a watch.
One of the major entices for seeing it comes from a cast of grandiose proportions. Usually, a formula of catastrophe follows suite for any film that attempts to sell its films on names alone but, luckily, they pretty much all work here; creating unforgettable characters undergoing ludicrously funny happenings. All of which is engine fired by one man: a legendary concierge by the name of Gustave H played charmingly by Ralph Fiennes (Harry Potter) who gets caught up in a sticky situation involving a will, a painting and his own unmoving ego/pride towards his beloved and whimsical hotel, The Grand Budapest. With his trust firmly cemented in his closest friend; a lobby boy by the name of Zero played by new to my eyes Tony Revolori and older version by F. Murray Abraham, the film throws them into an adventure that will have you pissing your self-folding cinema seats in laughter.
To me, the comedy is the commendable victor here as every scene seems to concur it in its own way. Whether it be the sharp profanities mixed randomly with otherwise civilised dialogue or simply the way all the characters dash around give off a very Monty Python tone. The comedy merges well with Anderson's ability to frame scenes perfectly and as such almost frame the comic timing as well. We can feel the moments where characters don't have a bloody clue what's going on because even they know that the situations they end up in are bonkers. It's even scenes like this that play to the strengths of certain actors who sometimes seem out of place; particularly Edward Norton who plays a military man of law called Henckels and, more importantly, isn't that bad either. However, it's still remarkable how so much chemistry was explored on screen between all these different characters. In fact, there's so many different characters coming and going, the game of Spot the Actor slowly morphs into Name the Character if you Can which can play on your confusion when following who's doing what. Christ, even Owen Wilson (Marley and Me) makes one of the briefest encounters on screen ever as character M. Chuck who comes and goes quicker than you can say, "room service". Special mention to a completely unrecognisable Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin) who gets her wrinkles on and plays Madame D. an ancient looking women who puts the film in motion.
The Grand Budapest Hotel really understates its use of the word 'grand' as both the institute and the film looks gorgeous. The sets and the colour palates still look wet with detail and all in all work extremely hard to purport an undoubtedly theatrical approach that the film is going for. A translation from film to theatre would almost be seamless as Anderson commands the camera to lock scene by scene without ever really moving on until it has to. The characters all know this style and adopt it gracefully giving the film a picture book quality complete with pop out art and the like. There's even a worthy Hitchcock tribute where lawyer Deputy Kovacs played by mumbling extraordinaire Jeff Goldblum (The Fly) is being pursued by a very grizzly and sinister mercenary by the name of Jopling played by Willem Dafoe (Beyond: Two Souls) in a history museum; which is an almost replica representation of an event that Paul Newman finds himself in during 'Torn Curtain' (1966). Nicely done Anderson considering the entire feature is shot on location in Germany (again, a plot wise relation to the previously specified Hitchcock wonder piece). Seriously, it's a beautiful film to look at and the level of creativity is off the wall, not just in design but technique.
If you're looking for something light hearted, if you are looking for a film with a timeless quality to it or if you are genuinely interested in watching a kind-hearted Adrien Brody (The Pianist) playing a villain swamped with greed then please go and see this film. It's of a fantastic quality and a triumph in imagination and character balancing. Writers can burn and shrivel when tasked with a battalion of wacky characters, but The Grand Budapest has enough room for everyone and you won't be disappointed.