Anderson's overdecorated

Rating: 7/10 (7 March 2014)

I can fully understand that Anderson's overdecorated, overstylized and highly self-conscious movies aren't for everyone, but at least some of the criticism rests on a faulty philosophical or aesthetic footing. Do movies made in a more naturalistic mode, like mainstream comedies and dramas with their formulaic three-act plots, actually do a better job of reproducing human relationships or social reality? What about movies set in outrageously artificial universes, like action films or thrillers, where we simply agree to overlook the fact that everything that happens is wildly implausible? To move the question to a larger frame, since when are the movies supposed to create a convincing simulacrum of reality? American cinema, which remains the medium's dominant model, hardly ever does and hardly ever has.