Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" is smarter than you may think

Rating: 10/10 (6 July 2015)

It is almost impossible to describe why The Grand Budapest Hotel was such a success. Anderson has created a film, so ridiculous and intelligent, it is hard to pinpoint where the movie became gold. I will attempt to do so. Its surprisingly captivating premise follows Fiennes' wonderful character M. Gustave, the vein, witty and legendary hotel concierge, who steals the spotlight with an eye catching purple tux. His character meets Zero (Tony Revolori), the new purple suited lobby boy who soon becomes his most loyal of friends. In its own way, the movie cannot be classified into one genre. There is some comedy, placed in the perfect places to draw attention to what was necessary— but overall the film deals with much more intense subject matter. It deals with loss, greed and value— breaking the imaginary world the characters are placed in. Its charming yet true dialogue opens up a whole new side of every character we see on screen. We get true depth into the minds of every character, gaining different intelligent perspectives of worth and wealth in the minds of fictional yet relatable characters. The film also successfully obtains an Inception storyboard, going from different time periods and locations but centring on one clear message, that being about life of a man who was wealthy and alone— to becoming a man who was loyal, honest and brave. Dealing with the loss of his friend (a 100 year old version of Tilda Swinton), it is discovered that her most priced possession— the symbolical Boy with an Apple painting— has been given to Gustave, instead of her greedy children. The apple of temptation and knowledge places a spell on Dimitri (the brilliant Adriaan Brody), who stops at nothing to retrieve the painting back. The film will be known for its glorious sets— bursting with colour and exploding with detail— but what was as clever was the charming atmosphere that was created. It is extremely difficult to create a good movie, but what is even harder— is to make a good movie that viewers will want to re-watch over and over again. Brilliantly, Wes Anderson has done so. A. Ryan Farrell.