While director Wes Anderson’s style and tone has not changed much over the years, he’s nevertheless still matured as a filmmaker. Creating new locales and deeper conflicts for his quirky characters, Anderson’s films have become philosophically and narratively more mature, culminating in the strange but honest coming-of-age story of Moonrise Kingdom. Hopefully Anderson will continue that upward trajectory with his latest, The Grand Budapest Hotel, which recently premiered at the Berlin Film Festival.
In the latest clip from the film, we see evidence of the blocking and dialogue that Anderson has developed over the course of his filmography. Zero (Tony Revolori), a protege at the hotel, confesses to his girlfriend Agatha (Saoirse Ronan) of his part in the apparent theft of the painting “Boy with Apple.” Agatha seems a bit nonplussed by the whole thing, what with discovering that her boyfriend might be a thief and all. But the power of the scene comes from the color palette, the use of off-screen dialogue and the precise but quirky blocking that has become an Anderson trademark. At just over a minute long, the scene establishes without a doubt that we are watching a Wes Anderson film.
Of course, the cast for The Grand Budapest Hotel is enough to get me into the cinema, even if I was not already a fan of Anderson. With Bill Murray, Jude Law, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Ralph Fiennes, and Owen Wilson all putting in appearances, there are very few arguments against going to see the movie.
The Grand Budapest Hotel will finally open on March 7, so we don’t have that long to wait until our next quirky fix.
You can check out the latest clip below and let us know what you think about it in the comments. Are you excited for The Grand Budapest Hotel?