EVERYONE - I highly recommend reading BorgoPo's write up about this film in Souciant: http://souciant.com/2014/03/its-a-small-strange-world/ He writes the following, which to me was spot on:When I walked out of the theater after seeing the film, I at first found myself unable to think about it analytically, because it had moved me so. Yet I’d never had the sense during the picture that it was affecting me to that extent; my attention, rather, was directed to the profusion of details Anderson is able to highlight: the way the hotel’s interior in the 1968 sequence so perfectly captures the color schemes of that era; the fabricated artworks that so effectively conjure their real-world inspiration; the excesses of different characters’ attire. If a film about an imaginary country in Eastern Europe can transform a Tucson, Arizona parking lot into a haunted landscape, flooding me with memories good and bad, I figure it must be doing something right.
Underrated actor: Jeff Goldbloom -cat scene was wonderful. What other performances stood out to people?
I really enjoyed Harvey Keital as Ludwig. Sure, they played the classic "crawl through a pipe to escape the prison" card, but I enjoyed his character. It was the archetypical old-timer in prison character. I wonder if roysexton knows about the movie club and/or has written up any reviews of this movie?
oh, you guys are going to be SO unhappy with me - I did review it here: http://reelroyreviews.com/2014/03/29/two-by-two-what-did-i-just-do-to-myself-noah-and-the-grand-budapest-hotel/ but I knew I was the lone contrarian (sp?), so I offered my pal Rebecca a counterpoint here:
Your review is awesome, if nothing else, for introdocuing me to the Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders. -Ed Norton as Owen Wilson is amazing.
Not alone! I've also used "cute" and "Keystone cops" in my derision of this piece of shit (see below and in the comment of this review). It's obvious to the point of irony and self-awareness, but not in a way that comes off as thoughtful or introspective. Probably Anderson's worst movie. As for Aronofsky, I didn't catch Noah, because I couldn't stomach the idea of it. But, generally I've loved his recent work, and loathed his early work. Pi and Requiem are so bad that they make me want to puke. The Wrestler and Black Swan are some of my favorite movies of the last decade.
Yeah. I had to laugh because even though I write poems, I do have trouble finishing certain well-known (and very lengthy) modernist poems. I couldn't figure out if that running joke was a (perhaps well-deserved) jibe at modernist poetry or if it was more tied in with the words of the poem and how they interact with the running narrative. I guess I'd have to watch it again.
There is only one poem that is completed and it is just prior to Gustav's death, as read by Agatha on the train. -something about "brothers." -it was a nice moment. Edit: humanodon -in the film, not finishing the poems has to do with interruption and not because they have any trouble remembering. Therefore, when Agatha can finally recite a poem without interruption it satisfies a sort of pent up anxiety in the viewer. You feel a sense of completion and satisfaction and then... Bam! Gustav dies.
I guess I didn't express what I meant clearly; I mean that the running joke is that who ever is reciting is interrupted, but is the joke more than just the interruption? As in, obviously Anderson chose when to interrupt and how the recitation was interrupted.in the film, not finishing the poems has to do with interruption and not because they have any trouble remembering.
Ah... To me it seems that people were all too ready and willing to cut off the poems in order to get on to more important things. The best interruption occurs when Gustav is hanging off of the cliff reciting his death poem and Zero throws Willem Defoe over. It's a hilarious moment.
Right, but it also said that Gustav had that collection of modernist poetry and it did seem to figure into his character. Like that thing about boning old, rich women. Anyway, in Wes Anderson movies I'm never sure what any but the most obvious symbols are vs. opportunities (intentional or otherwise) for the viewer to "read into" a particular scene or the movie as a whole. I like Willem Dafoe as a thug and while his scenes were pretty cartoonish, I kind of felt like more could have been done with his character.
Hell yeah, here we go let's find that damn hammer beneath the sweet faberge exterior what. I mean, I'm all for critiquing state violence and imperialism etc. but I'm missing the tie-in. oh right, carry on thenAnd there are no doubt those who will find this assessment confirmed in Grand Budapest Hotel, which not only delivers the exquisitely detailed mise-en-scène for which Anderson is famous, but even invites us to compare it to the confectioner’s art.
the possibility that Anderson has been concealing pickaxes in his cinematic confections from the get-go, we must also ask what kind of freedom they promise us. After all, the atrocities the United States has committed in the name of that word are many and continue to mount.
souciant.com