The Grand Budapest Hotel (2013)

I have just seen The Grand Budapest Hotel, which is my first Wes Anderson film.

Literally seconds into the film, I immediately went "HOLY SHIT!" The cinematography was, as to be expected, fucking perfect. The visuals were stunning in such a subtle way. Everything was perfectly in place, and there were so many things to pay attention to, but it was all so neat and organized into little 'boxes'.

I did not expect his films to have mild (fun) gore and nudity, so watching those moments was definitely a surprise. The whole script was very Dostoevsky, so hearing the first swear made me laugh in shock. Every moment of the film was an absolute delight.

I definitely enjoyed the pacing of the film. Everything happened so quickly, like it went from scene 1 to scene 2 to scene 3 with no transition (in a sense), very bam-bam-bam. Even still, every scene connected to the next in a very satisfying way.

The story itself was unpredictable, and when I tried to guess what would happen next, the film would laugh at me and prove me wrong.

I most enjoyed the way the characters interacted with each other. There was so much personality and earnestness and irony in M. Gustave, who was the obvious standout of the film. I found myself giddy at seeing zero maneuver through being an esteemed Lobby Boy. They are so darling together, you definitely get the sense that they are father-and-son, or brothers-in-hand. While Agatha was not as full a character as our main duo, she was still so lovely, and I found myself rooting for her as well.

I absolutely adored how the hotels looked out for their own. It made it hurt so much more when you remember, by the end, that the hotels were run down by the end of the war.

I geeked at the noticeable uniform change instilled in the fascist soldiers near the end, and I enjoyed the subtle buildup towards World War II that was interspersed throughout the movie.

I also really enjoyed the French-German-English cuz that's how they used to speak in that time period in Europe :DDD !!!!!!!

I teared up at the end of the movie, and what Zero says at the end, about M. Gustave clinging to a dead ideology, was so brilliant. It was a smart way to hint at how the world-building intertwined with the characters' values, or that's what I think, anyway.

Also also also! The running-nowhere-and-everywhere plot and nonsensical nature of the characters very much felt like a Nikolai Gogol novel!

5/5.

xoxo, r.p.