THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
GRADE: A+

Starring Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori,  F. Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody, Saorise Ronan, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray,
Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Tilda Swinton
Based on the Writings of Stefan Zweig
Written and Directed by Wes Anderson

Reviewed by Paul Gibbs


Wes Anderson is one of the more eccentric, offbeat filmmakers working today, and people largely either love his work or hate it. I tend to fall into the "love it" category, and The Grand Budapest Hotel  now ranks among my favorites of his films. But it's not a film I'll be telling anyone and everyone they should see.  A lot of viewers will leave scratching their heads and wondering if it was supposed to be a comedy (it is, and it's hilarious).

Ralph Fiennes stars as M. Gustave H, a concierge at a posh hotel in a fictional Eastern European nation just before World War II. But we don't get to meet Gustave until making our way through two (yes, too) wraparound devices:  Tom Wilkinson as an aging writer  flashes back to his younger days when he was played by Jude Law and met a man named Zero Moustapha (F. Murray Abraham) at the title hotel. It's Moustapha who tells the story of his days as a young lobby boy (now played by Tony Revolori) taken under the wing of the dashing, flamboyant, romantic and oddly vulgar M. Gustave. Gustave has a tendency to romance old, decrepit women, and one of them (Tilda Swinton in about 70 punds of old age make up) passes away suddenly. Gustave and Zero had to a reading of her will, wherein Gustave is left a priceless painting,  infuriating the old woman's heir Dimitri (Adrien Brody) and his henchman Jopling (Willem Dafoe).

The series of twists and turns the story takes have to be seen to be believed, including a long list of memorable supporting characters, an outrageous chase scene or two, and love story by between Zero and maid played by Soarisie Ronan. The uniformly excellent cast is clearly having a great time, and the delightfully quirky designs and Alexandre Desplat's catchy and unique score are all in perfect compliment to Anderson's usual hilarious dialogue and offbeat characters. Anderson has developed a unique visual style as a director, and an inimitable voice as a writer. His detractors label his films as hipsterish, but his admirers see a unique and electrifying artist. His use of multiple aspect ratios, which could easily have been gimmicky and distracting, actually helps to keep seperate the various threads of the unconventionally structured film, and his tendency to frame his subjects in the center of the image is well suited to the 1:33 ratio in which most of the film is presented. Anderson's use of color is also dazzling, from the hotel to the mountains to the . . .  Sorry, anymore would be a spoiler.

But the film perhaps belongs most of all too Fiennes. Only once before (as a voice in Wallace and Grommit: Curse of the Ware-Rabbit) has the superbly talented actor shown his silly side, and his work here is nothing short of sublime. It's hard too imagine this is the same actor who chilled us to the bone in Schindler's List. It's unfortunate that his work has little to no chance of Oscar recognition, but if he's not nominated for a Golden Globe in the comedy category, those awards will become an even bigger joke than they currently are. And Fiennes and Revolori make a classic comedy team, playing perfectly off of each other.

The Grand Budapest Hotel at times dark and brooding, and at other times silly and whimsical, and sometimes all at once. It's sure to be one of the best films of the still young year. The film is rated R for profanity, sexual references (including a painting which is tacky on every possible level) and violence which ranges from quietly disturbing to gut-bustingly hysterical.