Like every Wes Anderson film I enjoyed seeing it, or at least it generated some conversation afterward. What's it about? Maybe that's the wrong question. It travels along the edge of surreality from beginning to end and maybe the question should be, what's it trying to say. I think maybe the closest we get is toward the end when the main character, Augie (Jason Schwartzman) breaks through the stage-like set and in a fully surreal segment goes 'backstage'. He asks the Director (Adrian Brody) what this means, what are my lines supposed to do. He's told only that you're doing great, keep it up. I.e. -- life has no script, it feels a lot of the time like it's made up, there's no one to tell you what it means. That's about as good as I can do with it. Just as in Soul (2020), the message is that the Purpose of Life is to live it.
As with all WA films part of the fun is to see all those well known actors bouncing off each other with quirky dialog (beyond quirky here). Scarlett Johanssen is entrancing. The flat delivery of lines, the sets that look like stage backdrops, the simplified color palette all stand out here as his trademarks. It's exquisitely tailored, but I'm not sure though how much further he can go on this stylistic path. Story, Substance, and Style -- if all you are left with is Style then you can admire it but what more?
For me Anderson's high-water mark is still Moonrise Kingdom (2012). That one is a perfect, near-magical balance of story/substance/style with quirkiness to burn but deeply humanist. (And the finest end credits of any movie ever.) Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) is very fine too but at that point, style was already starting to win over those other essential elements.
As with all WA films part of the fun is to see all those well known actors bouncing off each other with quirky dialog (beyond quirky here). Scarlett Johanssen is entrancing. The flat delivery of lines, the sets that look like stage backdrops, the simplified color palette all stand out here as his trademarks. It's exquisitely tailored, but I'm not sure though how much further he can go on this stylistic path. Story, Substance, and Style -- if all you are left with is Style then you can admire it but what more?
For me Anderson's high-water mark is still Moonrise Kingdom (2012). That one is a perfect, near-magical balance of story/substance/style with quirkiness to burn but deeply humanist. (And the finest end credits of any movie ever.) Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) is very fine too but at that point, style was already starting to win over those other essential elements.