artsy and humerous, but what in the hell did i watch?

Rating: 6/10 (19 May 2018)

I heard of it being a classic must-watch, so i watched it. It's one of those movies that apparantly requires a certain taste for the lightheartidly absurd, if I had to describe it as anything.
It borderlines arthouse material, with every single scene being centered to the last inch. If anything, this movie continues to grab your attention by putting every character, in ever moment dead-center. You have no idea if this even takes place on planet earth, or in a parallel reality. The country in which it takes place is somethting vaguely German-European and when there is a sporadic mention of a war -an element that is marketed to be a key plot point but really the movie is the same if it were without it - they even go as far as renaming SS to ZZ. I mean... what?
The story doesn't have much to it - it's a man telling a story, about another man telling a story on how he was the protegé of an esteemed congierge of the dubious hotel. How said hotel has fallen into ruin in the first place is hardly mentioned, and the story that you'd expect - about the hotel itself you'd presume - becomes a weird tale on art thieves, a dead widow and a shady testament. Could be fun, and it kinda is, but the manner in which it all is told is silly to say the least. Something monty-python like posh slapstick humour almost. So yeah, weird and silly, but strangely amusing at the same time. Still wondering why the hell some characters were portrayed as being a vampire or werewolf without ANY reason for them to be those things in this premis!

All in all: masterpiece? naah. The only thing masterpiece worthy here is the acting. Too bad Tilda Swinton had such a short role - I love that woman in every role she plays! Ralph Fiennes' posh but foul-mouthed caharcter is a delight, there are some teeny tiny roles for Owen Wilson and Bill Murray and Tony Revolori has a very endearing character. They amused me well anough for leaving this movie a positive review but other than that it just left me confused.