Wes Anderson's making his film again

[Sebastian Cobb]

Could it be very early cinema? That period where they basically bolted the camera down and filmed as a traditional stage layout.

I don't think that's all of it, but there's a definite link there. He plays about with aspect ratios to match too.

Sound did this, in many ways it put cinematography back quite a bit as the cameras had to be boxed off and silenced and sets fitted with mics, putting an end to experimentalism smaller, portable clockwork cameras were allowing.

[Bronzy]

I've enjoyed most of his films but (and this is a spectacularly poorly explained theory, apologies) I always feel as if they're referencing something I don't quite get. The stylisation and idiosyncracies etc. feel as if they're supposed to make you think of something, or some fictional world, which it fits with and makes more sense than it does in this one, but because I/we don't actually know what that thing or world is then half the point is lost on me/us, and I/we'd get a lot more out of them if I/we knew what it was he was trying to invoke. Completely different style but it's the same feeling I get watching Yorgos Lanthimos films (apart from The Favourite, which I haven't seen but understand it isn't in "that" style). Maybe I'm just thick.

Buster Keaton, likely.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=UWEjxkkB8Xs

[Icehaven]

Could it be very early cinema? That period where they basically bolted the camera down and filmed as a traditional stage layout.

I don't think that's all of it, but there's a definite link there. He plays about with aspect ratios to match too.

Yeah actually, that makes sense.

[alan nagsworth]

People saying they can't watch his films because they're hipsterish or pretentious are ironically being pretentious themselves. Fair enough if you don't like the stories or style or whatever, but criticizing a filmmakers style because you think other people you don't like would like it is just cretinous, IMO.

I don't quite share your enthusiasm for Anderson's films but I completely agree with this statement. Just shows other people's insecurities against a side of humanity they think they totally understand, disregarding all of the wonderful nuances of humans in general. It's basically the intellectual equivalent of Whitesnake fans going on youtube and slagging fuck out of "the sort of shit kids are listening to nowadays". When kids kick back and say "you just don't get it, old man" they've got a really good point. They might not know how to elaborate on that point, but that's part of what makes it a magical and completely relevant argument.

[chveik]

yeah but Wes Anderson makes old people's films.

[alan nagsworth]

You just don't get it young man

[thecuriousorange]

I find his work repetitive, unfunny and completely empty. There are lots of nice shots, but that alone can't hold my attention for two hours.

[sevendaughters]

I showed Mrs 7D Rushmore as part of her asking me to pick something nice and easy to watch and she liked it. It was also less overtly stylised in the main dramatic bits, brilliantly cast, and I re-assert that in capturing a certain melancholy Eastern US he was once very good.

[Lord Mandrake]

Glock commercial.

https://youtu.be/MH1E3R5gYKs

[Inspector Norse]

He just has his own style. It's not trying to evoke anything. People refer to his movies as 'dollhouses', which I guess is appropriate, but he's just landed on a style that is energetic, visually appealing and unique. People saying they can't watch his films because they're hipsterish or pretentious are ironically being pretentious themselves. Fair enough if you don't like the stories or style or whatever, but criticizing a filmmakers style because you think other people you don't like would like it is just cretinous, IMO.

Is anyone on here doing that, though?

I mentioned hipsters, and other people have said they don't like his films, but we've all actually come up with quite specific issues. For example, I find that the films are often engaging and lashed with wit and charm, but that the hyperstylisation and kitsch seem to mask a vacuity and an irritating smugness, so while I enjoy watching them at the time, they leave me feeling a bit empty afterwards. Other people like the detail and pastiche a lot and find that they can connect more with the films, and hipsters are certainly one demographic who have adopted Anderson as a cultural icon. But it would be a stretch from there to say that I was saying I didn't like the films because hipsters do.

[sevendaughters]

I do take issue with the idea that his style is uniquely his own. He's clearly very influenced by particular things, some of which he doesn't necessarily deploy as well as others.

[Inspector Norse]

His style is an amalgamation of lots and lots of other things. Which is fine because pretty much everybody's style is, but Anderson does seem to get singled out a lot more for it.

Looking at the poster for the new one it feels like it might be something along the lines of The Great Budapest Hotel, which I liked more than usual because it was a bit more knowingly fluffy and silly. Easier to go along for the ride.

[sevendaughters]

more of a response to the person who said his style is his own and he isn't trying to evoke anything. No one's style is their own, really.

[thecuriousorange]

When I saw Harold and Maude I assumed it was a massive influence on him and his "quirkiness".

[Icehaven]

When I saw Harold and Maude I assumed it was a massive influence on him and his "quirkiness".

Yeah I can see that definitely!

[Mister Six]

All these complaints about Anderson using his particular style are just daft. It's like complaining about David Lynch doing a film with oppressive droning over everything. It's just his style. Fair enough if that's not your thing, but complaining that he's doing it again is like complaining that the desert is a bit sandy.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Just saw this at an advance screening in Newcastle. It looks beautiful, great cast, Lea Sedoux full frontal if that's your bag, but I think I've given up trying to like Anderson's films. I admire his meticulous craft and unique vision but I just never seem to get them. I might give this one a rewatch on bluray though, it's very layered and intricate and definitely a treat visually/aurally.

[mothman]

Nothing to add of interest, just struck by how there was this whole thread about an upcoming movie twenty months ago and it's only now coming out...

[chveik]

i don't think i can watch that, the clichés about french culture must be unbearable

[checkoutgirl]

It's like he's parodying himself at this stage. His latest trailer seems to scream "You thought a film couldn't be any more Wes Andersonish? Check this out". I don't know why he isn't bored of it by now and still makes this style of film over and over. He must just love that quirky, cheeky, arty style.

I suppose in the franchise dominated scene it's worth something that an auteur can still get a budget and a substantial ensemble cast together based on his name and ideas, and presumably the steadfast patronage of Bill Murray.

[Ferris]

It's like he's parodying himself at this stage. His latest trailer seems to scream "You thought a film couldn't be any more Wes Andersonish? Check this out". I don't know why he isn't bored of it by now and still makes this style of film over and over. He must just love that quirky, cheeky, arty style.

I suppose in the franchise dominated scene it's worth something that an auteur can still get a budget and a substantial ensemble cast together based on his name and ideas, and presumably the steadfast patronage of Bill Murray.

He's got so massive I imagine his film productions are a bit of a cottage industry now and he couldn't change them if he wanted to. Every tedious pseudo-Francophile production assistant who works there wants to live up to The Vision, and I'd guess old Wes hasn't done more than an afternoon's work in years.

Like what's his name. Damien Hirst. Get a warehouse full of people who churn out stuff that looks like something you would do, slap your name on the final product and cash the cheques.

It reinforces itself. No one is angling to work on an Anderson project behind the scenes because they like using their depth perception or non-shit colour palette.

[SteveDave]

Just like Andy Warhol!

[Ferris]

Just like Andy Warhol!

Yeah he invented it I suppose.

I went to an "official" Warhol exhibition in Toronto a few years ago because I was walking past and thought "ooh yeah go on then". It was 2 rooms full of not very good photos, one or two "original" prints, and (of course) a gift shop selling very expensive tea towels etc.


Entry was $20 which I only found out after standing in line - I felt like I had massively overpaid for an inferior product, but upon reflection that's an entirely apposite experience of old Andy.

[peanutbutter]

Struggling to care about this one at all. Moonrise Kingdom revived my interest in him a lot and Grand Budapest Hotel seemed to be about as close to perfect as he's managed to bring his various strands together, but I pretty much ignored Isle of Dogs having not cared for his Roald Dahl adaptation so it feels like a 7.5 year wait. Not sure there's enough of substance to his work to feel like that kind of wait is worth it; even when they're good it always feels more iterative than specifically massively better.


Sounds like his next one is already largely shot, already looking forward to it more than this one.

[Twit 2]

I thought Grand Budapest Hotel was very good but not exceptional. I liked the emotional heart to Moonrise Kingdom, which took me back to the Rushmore/Royal Tenenbaums era. His use of Britten was sensational. Isle of Dogs works really well, I think, because the Japanese aesthetics meshed brilliantly with his rigid formalism.

[Waking Life]

I thought he peaked with The Royal Tenenbaums and since then, it's been Wes Anderson by numbers. Although have only seen Moonrise Kingdom on a plane. Grand Budapest Hotel was where it started to feel like parody. Almost "Accidentally Wes Anderson" level. I remember somebody who was very much into the 'frat pack' / Apatow films told me he assumed The Royal Tenenbaums was a piss take of people who liked quirky indie films, which were popular in the early 2000s. That would be a pretty dedicated example.

That said, I don't really dislike his films so will watch this. One of the issues I also had with the Grand Budapest Hotel was that it felt really 'busy' and this seems even more so. Although the portmanteau approach is intriguing.

[mothman]

I really like The Life Aquatic but looked at dispassionately it feels like it's trying too hard. And I retain a soft spot for Grand Budapest Hotel because I watched it for the first time a few Christmases back with my eldest, she was 13 or 14 at the time, and it's fostered in her a love of quirky offbeat cinema, which you have to admit can't be all bad.

[QDRPHNC]

I adore Wes Anderson's style, but he can be a bit hamfisted with structure. His scripts are usually more effective when he has Owen Wilson as a writing partner.

[Lord Mandrake]

I think some people have difficulty connecting precisely because there is very little artifice. He never let's you forget you are watching a film. Flat, compass point shooting is less contrived than a camera swooping allover the place or some cleverly stitched together one take.

[mhmhmh]

It looks beautiful. What's actually happening isn't that important or interesting but he knows how to hold the eye.