“Grand Budapest Hotel”: A Good Fun!

“Grand Budapest Hotel” (GBH; too lazy to write it out in the blog) was WOW. This movie was such a tremendous fun that it was a pleasure to watch. Cinematography (Robert D. Yeoman) was great; directing (Wes Anderson) hit all the right notes; acting (Ralph Fiennes and Anthony Quinonez (“Zero)) was fabulous. Did you see Tilda Swinton’s performance as Madame D? Spectacular! The whole star-studded ensemble just played off of each other; great chemistry, as good as in “Birdman”. For them, it was like a vacation; relaxed, focused, and just enjoying the ride (sometimes literally). Alexander Desplat created a beautiful and fun score, and Adam Stockhausen and Anna Pinnock’s production design and set decorations were so grand that he and his team were rightfully nominated for the Academy Award. (I think they’ll win). GBH was good fun. Unfortunately, it’s all it was. At times, I felt bored.

The story was inspired by the writings of Stefan Zweig (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Zweig). The script was written by Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness. I’d like to read the script itself. It was solid; great lesson in screenplay writing. Actors had a lot wonderful words to say and to push the story along with their play. However, something was missing. There was a lack of something that was hard to pinpoint. Surely, it reminded me of Eastern European culture among other things. But somehow I was expecting more. However, I have a feeling that was the point. After all, the old adage of entertainment business is “leave them to want more”. And I believe Wes Anderson succeeded in that. Of course, I’d like to read some of Zweig’s stories to see, perhaps, that illusionary missing an action act. I’d say though you should see it, if you haven’t yet.  I haven’t had this much fun in a while!

In the end, GBH was a lyrical satire.  It was not a comedy per se.  Instead, it was more like making fun, intelligently, about our lives. In fact, the story was making fun of mobsters, rich people, servants, police, the state, the army, and about relationships. All of this to make us not to take this film too seriously. But, at the same time, we should give it some thought after watching it. After all, this movie makes fun of the situations that we might get ourselves into, not most of the time like the scene escaping from prison – still brings smile to me. But these types of movies have made people feel free in curtained societies like the Soviet Union. They were shown because, perhaps, leaders didn’t see how the story made fun of the ruled society, and it wasn’t political either. 

These kinds of movies make us feel good, but also make us think about the society we live in, if we are intelligent enough to see it. Of course, GBH was making fun of the times that it portrayed, but I found it funny because of experiences and knowledge I possess today; the story is still relevant today. After all, the movie begins and ends with a person giving flowers in the middle of cemetery to the writer. Why do you think that is? How satirical is that? Why did the movie make such a scene important? It is definitely a nice topic for an analytical essay about this movie. The movie is deep. If you are a filmmaker, writer, or any other creative, you should realize that for you the movie is a gold mine. GBH is imbued with symbolism in almost every scene if you know where to look. I am dead serious. I saw them. But then again maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, but I doubt it. That painting of a boy with an apple was not there just for fun. I am sure if you watch it often enough you will see it.

I believe I was influenced by them a great deal. Perhaps, one day, I will write up something similar. Unfortunately, today, we don’t have similar genres. Comedies of today are just making fun of our questionable behavior. They are just fun for fun’s sake; just look at “The Interview”. I think it’s time to bring more of satirical movies to big screen. Have you watched “Red”, both parts? It was satirical and not just an entertaining movie. Or, how about “Ushpizin” or “Footnote”? These Israeli movies are serious, but they do make fun of situations that our heroes find themselves in and of the society.

I believe if more societies allowed making fun of themselves through movies and not taking things as seriously as we all do, then we’ll have a lot less bloody conflicts and unnecessary arguments. After all, all of our behaviors are just silly.

Honestly, you must see GBH for the fun of it and maybe you’ll think how idiotically funny our behavior sometimes is in almost all situations of our lives. 

 Article about set design for GBH

“See How an Old Department Store Became a ‘Grand Budapest Hotel’”: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-see-how-an-old-755366