Wes Anderson At His Best; A Must See

Rating: 9/10 (7 April 2014)

Wes Anderson's latest film was an absolute treasure. It was perfectly in line with Anderson's current cinematographic identity, with a visually perfect aesthetic, consistently vibrant colors and symmetrical balance in every shot. Having already seen a majority of the director, writer and producer's films, this was certainly one of his best. My only complaint with the film was the unusual use of gore, with which I believe the filmmaker was testing the waters. There were three brief, but alarmingly bloody and violent scenes, which did not exactly fit in with the style of the film or the director and were all-out unusual and unneeded. I hope that in his future films, Anderson omits this type of shock factor in the form of unnecessary gore.
The film took the style of a story, within a story, within a story narrative. The bulk of the story took place in the far past, with the lobby boy, Zero played by a relatively new actor, Tony Revolori, and Ralph Fiennes as M. Gustave, the concierge of the titular hotel. As per usual Anderson used some of his favorite actors for this movie, namely Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody and Edward Norton, all of whom shined in their roles large or small. Fiennes led this all-star cast and was constantly charming and kept the viewers at the edge of their seat. At just over an hour and a half, this instant classic is certainly worth watching.