Enduring Characters in a Wes Anderson Created World

Rating: 9/10 (19 January 2015)

This is such a delightful film. I recent just re-watched and liked it even more.
The story beings with a young author (Jude Law) meeting the eccentric owner of the Grand Budapest Hotel, Mr. Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham). Moustafa proceeds to tell the tale of how he became the owner of the hotel centering on concierge M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) and his Lobby Boy Zero (Tony Revolori). Gustave is a beloved concierge often wining the affection of guests of the hotel. This affection gets Gustave in trouble after a guest is murdered and a valuable painting is stolen with him as the prime suspect. The story includes prison life, prison break, a chase, more murders, a mystery, and even Nazi-like soldiers wrapped up with comedy, drama, action, and romance.
The movie was really about the relationship between Gustave and Zero with the mystery just a vehicle to deliver performances of the actors. Fiennes and Revolori nailed it! Finnes had perfect comedic timing with dramatic intensity when need be. I feel this was his best performance, save Schindler's list and should have nominated for Academy Award. The supporting characters, a who's who of award winning actors, included Adrien Brody, William Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Edward Norton, Bill Murrayand others also had exceptional performance. I think Norton's performance was better in Grand Budapest than in Birdman.
In addition to getting the most from his actors, Wes Anderson created a wonderful world and used interesting filming techniques (reminiscent of Monty Python).
Despite being a little confused keeping track all the names of the characters (the butler, the butler's sisters, the inmates), it was the enduring characters that I will remember most.