Welcome back to Tuesday Night is Film Night and this the last film of September! Where has the year gone? It won't be long before we are digging out more Christmas movies!
Back to this week and tonight we are watching;
The Grand Budapest Hotel
IMDB Link
Well, there we go then. IMDB states that The Grand Budapest Hotel is a comedy, it certainly had some funny moments, but how you classify it within the comedy genre is beyond us. It is sometimes dark, sometimes rude, sometimes bizarre and sometimes quirky, it is certainly unique. Let us have a quick synopsis, then get back to trying to describe the film to you.
The Grand Budapest Hotel traces the adventures of Gustave H played, it has to be said, absolutely brilliantly by Ralph Fiennes. Gustave is an extraordinary concierge at the famous Grand Budapest hotel, located in the Republic of Zubrowka. Set in the 1930's we see Gustave and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy (Tony Revolori), who becomes Gustave's most trusted friend, set off on an adventure that involves a dead guest of the hotel, a dispute over the dead woman's fortune, a stolen priceless painting and a trail of dead bodies as Gustave flee's from capture after being accused of murder.
Is that sufficiently confusing? It does make sense if you watch the film and it is best that you do, if you want to unravel the mysteries of the Grand Budapest Hotel.
What is different with the film is it's styling, although a new release, it is looks dated. It almost looks as if it is a silent, back and white comedy, with sound and colour. It is certainly unique when compared to other new releases, which gives it a certain charm, even if the concept seems to be a bit weird. It has however attracted some big names, as the cast list reads as a real who's who in the film world; Ralph Fiennes, Bill Murray, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham, Tom Wilkinson. They obviously saw something in the script that made them want to be part of it.
It is certainly not your run-of-the-mill comedy, it has a charm seen more often in European films, in fact it would not have seemed out of place for it to be a foreign language film badly dubbed in English, or just subtitled. In fact it is based on the novels of Stefan Zweig, an Austrian born writer of the early 1900's. The director of The Grand Budapest Hotel; Wes Anderson actually states in the end-credits that it is partially inspired by Zweig's novels and it is claimed that he had "stolen" from Zweig's novels Beware of Pity and The Post-Office Girl when writing the film.
The grand Budapest Hotel is a hard film to pigeon hole. It is quirky, strange even, but with a unique presence that actually makes it watchable. Fiennes is sublime as Gustave H. who manages to mix so well and with great comedic affect, a juxtaposition between the suave and ultra efficient concierge and a darker, edgier character when put in an awkward situations. You'll see what we mean if you watch it. Some very good laugh out loud moments. Unfortunately not enough to make it totally funny, but with it's strange atmosphere and quirky nature, it is one to watch only if to satisfy your curiosity. The official trailer is worth just checking out, so you can gain a gist of what we are describing.
As for the all important scores, well they are not going to reach the hotel's roof-top pool that's for sure, but they do just make it out of the lobby!
TNiFN Rating 65%
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