Review 307: The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a wonderfully extraordinary comedy and another creative and eccentric addition to Wes Anderson's eclectic filmmography.

 

Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes), is a legendary concierge at a famous hotel in the fictional country of Republic of Zubrowka in 1932 and Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori), the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune—all against the back-drop of a suddenly and dramatically changing continent.

The plot is...  remarkable,  The way Anderson handles the material is like a colappsing House of Cards of incidents, one thing just leads to another.

 

Thematically The Grand Budapest Hotel deals with themes such as Nostalgia & Fascism, Friendship and Loyalty.

 

Friendship: According to producer Jeremy Dawson, the heart of the film is the friendship between Gustave and Zero. Ralph Fiennes furthers this by saying that they are the driving duo of the film. Indeed, Zero appears to be Gustave's one true friend and his unwavering devotion to him makes that bond even stronger. Gustave is initially underwhelmed by Zero as a bellhop but becomes increasingly empathetic to his plight in their subsequent misadventures, united by their shared enthusiasm for the hotel, to the point that he defends Zero against police thuggery and rewards his loyalty with his inheritence.

 

Nostalgia and Fascim: The world in which The Grand Budapest Hotel takes place in is  Whilist The Grand Budapest Hotel doesn't directly reference any historical events, it makes rather oblique references that contextualize the real time history. The most deliberate of these are to Nazism. 

On the most unique aspects of The Grand Budapest Hotel is Anderson's use of colour to accentuate narrative tones and to convey visual emphasis to the subject matter and the passage of time. A lot of emphasis is placed on vibrant reds, warm pinks and deep purples especially during pre-war Grand Budapest scenes and for the post war period, autuminal yellows, oranges and browns when there aren't many guests manifesting the hotels deminished prestige. It's this level of contrast that Anderson and his crew live for and helps make each period feel destinct and different.

Director Wes Anderson's direction is magnificent, the cinematography is gorgeous, the 1932 European setting is stunning, the locations are miraculous (we see, even though the country the film is set in is fictional, the countryside, the mountains and the villages), the score by Alexandre Desplat is beautiful, the production design is all marvellous, the costumes are majestic, the make up is rich, the props is wonderfully crafted and jokes are hilarious.  

The Grand Budapest Hotel features an extraordinary cast, Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrian Briody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Lea Seydoux, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson and newcomer Tony Revolori and all of them give absolutely fabulous performances with Ralph Fiennes leading the way with absolute precision. Exhibiting a sharp wit and levity rarely seen in his extensive 20 year career.

 

Newcomer Revolori doesn't lag far behind; Zero is very on point, does everything straight by the book. Monsieur Gustave is his idol and he aspires to be like him.  Over the course of their adventures, they become strong brothers in arms

The Grand Budapest Hotel has all the quirkiness of Wes Anderson's previous films but also demonstrates his ability to explore big ideas, 5/5.

The Anonymous Critic.