Inspiring dialogs and a bit of Sherlock Holmes

Rating: 8/10 (19 July 2014)

The Grand Budapest Hotel has inspiring dialogs of refined language. A movie that trusts its viewer, it shows no fear of oblivion and omission. It is not a historical movie, although it uses a historical setting. In its pictorial beauty and its subtle humor, always keeping a distance to the narrated, it can be described of what is a movie with the poignancy of "The Fall" combined the irony of Woody Allen.
The Grand Budapest Hotel is not a movie of dull ambiance, but it is also far from being tacky. It has some elements of Sherlock Holmes, or closer to Woody Allen, "Scoop", it is romantic, ironic, and driven by its characters and the magnificently narrated story. Typical elements of an romantic piece of art, it is also reflecting on art itself. It deals with the consequences of the Nazi invasion, but purposely not in a historical flavor. The insignia of the "SS" is replaced by "ZZ". This is a story of Gustave and Zero. The girlfriend of young lobby boy Zero, Agatha, is much more of a symbol for Zeros progress in poetry and arts than a character.
If there had been bears and prostitutes, I would have suspected John Irving as the writer of the script: A story of a boy growing up with his Idol, being separated for a while only to reunite later. Love affairs with older women and boyish adventures. Elements we know well from Irving. But more importantly the movie shares his passion for details in a passionately narrated story.