And so my life began: Junior Lobby Boy-in-training
October 17, 2013 8:14 AM Subscribe
Wes Anderson makes a particular kind of film. You either like it or you don't. Almost everyone I know either hates his work or is drawn to it like a kitten to catnip.
Me? I'm rolling on the ground on my back pawing at unseen critters floating in the air with dilated pupils darting all over.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:21 AM on October 17, 2013 [7 favorites]
Me? I'm rolling on the ground on my back pawing at unseen critters floating in the air with dilated pupils darting all over.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:21 AM on October 17, 2013 [7 favorites]
Excited, but a little skeptical. The trailer makes it look like maybe the most antic thing he's ever made, including The Fantastic Mr. Fox. I kind of like my Anderson a little antic, with a bunch of weird, slow melancholy.
posted by Going To Maine at 8:28 AM on October 17, 2013
posted by Going To Maine at 8:28 AM on October 17, 2013
But then, I also like being happy & amused, so who knows?
posted by Going To Maine at 8:28 AM on October 17, 2013
posted by Going To Maine at 8:28 AM on October 17, 2013
"let’s highlight one notable element: the use of the 1.33:1 aspect ratio. It’s a pretty striking choice, and, in an age of widescreen HDTVs, even a subversive one. Techically, according to this excerpt from Matt Zoller Seitz’s The Wes Anderson Collection, Grand Budapest is actually shot in three aspect ratios—1.33, 1.85, and 2.35:1—each used to differentiate the story’s three different time periods."
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:32 AM on October 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:32 AM on October 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
Of note: this appears to be the first Wes Anderson film – excluding the Fantastic Mr. Fox adaptation – with no co-writers.
posted by timshel at 8:34 AM on October 17, 2013
posted by timshel at 8:34 AM on October 17, 2013
it's not that I didn't love Moonrise Kingdom, I just.. I dunno. Life Aquatic is the one I'll keep watching.
this looks really really good though.
posted by ninjew at 8:36 AM on October 17, 2013
this looks really really good though.
posted by ninjew at 8:36 AM on October 17, 2013
I have never heard of this movie and have just paused the video at 0:08 to say that I am 100% sure this is a Wes Anderson concern.
Man, that dude has a unique visual style.
posted by 256 at 8:37 AM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Man, that dude has a unique visual style.
posted by 256 at 8:37 AM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Wes Anderson makes really really Wes Andersony films.
posted by The Whelk at 8:38 AM on October 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:38 AM on October 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
I'm sold. Excellent use of Willem Dafoe in the trailer particularly. Though I do feel I've already seen as much of Ed Norton as I want to in this film.
posted by biffa at 8:39 AM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by biffa at 8:39 AM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
These could just about be procedurally generated at this point. I'll still see it though.
posted by 2bucksplus at 8:39 AM on October 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by 2bucksplus at 8:39 AM on October 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
256, I was about to say the same thing. It's that pillbox hat with lobby boy written across the front.
posted by cmfletcher at 8:39 AM on October 17, 2013
posted by cmfletcher at 8:39 AM on October 17, 2013
I have to say that's the best Egon Schiele joke I've seen in a trailer this year. And here I thought Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit had it all sewn up.
posted by Iridic at 8:40 AM on October 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by Iridic at 8:40 AM on October 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
Moonrise is my favorite Wes Anderson. I seem to prefer it when his movies have actual children instead of adult children.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:42 AM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:42 AM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Of all the Wes Anderson films in this world, this looks the Wes Andersoniest.
Which is to say I'll be there opening day.
posted by Aznable at 8:44 AM on October 17, 2013
Which is to say I'll be there opening day.
posted by Aznable at 8:44 AM on October 17, 2013
I have been wanting to like Ralph Fiennes forever. He's obviously a very good actor, and he was outrageously good in Schindler's List, and he obviously has managed to continue to rack up iconic villain roles -- He's Voldemort, for Pete's sake, and was also superb as a "Performance"-style Cockney villain in "In Bruges." But I have always wondered if there was daffiness there, a sense of whimsy, a ... I don't know ... delight.
I'm quite pleased to discover he seems to be the ideal Wes Anderson leading man.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 8:52 AM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'm quite pleased to discover he seems to be the ideal Wes Anderson leading man.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 8:52 AM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
The IMDB page for this film lists 33 people in the cast. Only 5 are women. Yeah, I'm going to sit this one out, thanks.
posted by troika at 9:00 AM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by troika at 9:00 AM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
I'm...not sure. I've actually seen all of his movies, I just realized! But post-Fantastic Mr. Fox I'm finding that I'm getting burnt out on his style. I like his wonderfully dry humour but am super distracted by the way every shot is "straight-on" (not a cinephile, here, obviously)...as though the camera is constantly at perpendicular angles to the walls/lines of the room.
posted by Monster_Zero at 9:01 AM on October 17, 2013
posted by Monster_Zero at 9:01 AM on October 17, 2013
Because I live out here in Bumfuck, North Dakota, it is likely I will only get to see this when it hits DVD. And then I will watch it again, and again, and again...
posted by Ber at 9:06 AM on October 17, 2013
posted by Ber at 9:06 AM on October 17, 2013
I am extremely excited in the most impossibly twee and mannered way.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:18 AM on October 17, 2013
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:18 AM on October 17, 2013
you express this by straightening your fez.
posted by The Whelk at 9:20 AM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 9:20 AM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'm not wearing a fez.
I'm wearing a straw boater.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:22 AM on October 17, 2013
I'm wearing a straw boater.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:22 AM on October 17, 2013
*squints*
That really hurt my feelings.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:27 AM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
That really hurt my feelings.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:27 AM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
I don't like all his stuff but this looks madcap and inspired. I'm sold.
posted by starman at 9:27 AM on October 17, 2013
posted by starman at 9:27 AM on October 17, 2013
>The IMDB page for this film lists 33 people in the cast. Only 5 are women. Yeah, I'm going to sit this one out, thanks.
That's an unusual metric to use for choosing which movies to see. Care to elaborate?
posted by BurntHombre at 9:27 AM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
That's an unusual metric to use for choosing which movies to see. Care to elaborate?
posted by BurntHombre at 9:27 AM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
But one thing above all will stand out to longtime Wes fans: the typeface
posted by exogenous at 9:30 AM on October 17, 2013
posted by exogenous at 9:30 AM on October 17, 2013
BurntHombre: ">The IMDB page for this film lists 33 people in the cast. Only 5 are women. Yeah, I'm going to sit this one out, thanks.
That's an unusual metric to use for choosing which movies to see. Care to elaborate?"
It's not a metric I use, but it make sense to me. Mass media is kind of a firehose, so it's reasonable to apply some filters. A film with an extreme ratio like that, with no apparent reason of setting or content to erase half the human population, can be assumed to have a certain perspective. That perspective is in so much media that you can't avoid, that a viewer might get tired of it and skip an avoidable example.
posted by Karmakaze at 9:37 AM on October 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
That's an unusual metric to use for choosing which movies to see. Care to elaborate?"
It's not a metric I use, but it make sense to me. Mass media is kind of a firehose, so it's reasonable to apply some filters. A film with an extreme ratio like that, with no apparent reason of setting or content to erase half the human population, can be assumed to have a certain perspective. That perspective is in so much media that you can't avoid, that a viewer might get tired of it and skip an avoidable example.
posted by Karmakaze at 9:37 AM on October 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
>A film with an extreme ratio like that, with no apparent reason of setting or content to erase half the human population, can be assumed to have a certain perspective.
I guess that's what I'm wondering -- what kind of useful and accurate assumptions can be made about a film based on the numbers of men vs. women cast in it? If that's the metric a person wants to use, that's their prerogative, but it seems like one of the least useful.
posted by BurntHombre at 10:18 AM on October 17, 2013
I guess that's what I'm wondering -- what kind of useful and accurate assumptions can be made about a film based on the numbers of men vs. women cast in it? If that's the metric a person wants to use, that's their prerogative, but it seems like one of the least useful.
posted by BurntHombre at 10:18 AM on October 17, 2013
A film with an extreme ratio like that
Surely in terms of mainstream film that ratio's quite generous on the female side?
posted by glasseyes at 10:32 AM on October 17, 2013
Surely in terms of mainstream film that ratio's quite generous on the female side?
posted by glasseyes at 10:32 AM on October 17, 2013
That's an unusual metric to use for choosing which movies to see. Care to elaborate?
Sure. It's not the only metric I use, obviously. There's not some mathematical formula that I use to decide whether or not a film is worth seeing. But when I saw the poster for this one, I was kind of taken aback. All those names! I like an ensemble cast! And then I looked closer and saw that, of 17 listed, 3 were women. Wes Anderson makes good movies, I generally like them, but here he's almost rubbing it in our faces that this is a movie where women are barely involved at all. Like, I plan on seeing The Monuments Men, and that's going to have even fewer female roles. But that's a WWII movie about people involved with the military on the ground in the war, it makes sense that those will be men. Here - none of those 14 men on the poster, those roles absolutely could not have been female? I find that hard to believe.
The trailer did not do anything to convince me otherwise. Wild, fun adventures for dudes while the typical inscrutable Anderson love interest stands on the periphery? Ha ha isn't it crazy that this handsome man had sex with an older woman? Just not my cup of tea.
posted by troika at 10:36 AM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Sure. It's not the only metric I use, obviously. There's not some mathematical formula that I use to decide whether or not a film is worth seeing. But when I saw the poster for this one, I was kind of taken aback. All those names! I like an ensemble cast! And then I looked closer and saw that, of 17 listed, 3 were women. Wes Anderson makes good movies, I generally like them, but here he's almost rubbing it in our faces that this is a movie where women are barely involved at all. Like, I plan on seeing The Monuments Men, and that's going to have even fewer female roles. But that's a WWII movie about people involved with the military on the ground in the war, it makes sense that those will be men. Here - none of those 14 men on the poster, those roles absolutely could not have been female? I find that hard to believe.
The trailer did not do anything to convince me otherwise. Wild, fun adventures for dudes while the typical inscrutable Anderson love interest stands on the periphery? Ha ha isn't it crazy that this handsome man had sex with an older woman? Just not my cup of tea.
posted by troika at 10:36 AM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Looks like fun. If you haven't read any of Ludwig Bemelmans' Hotel Splendide and Hotel Bemelmans, his barely fictional memoirs of working at the Ritz and elsewhere, you are in for a treat.
posted by BWA at 10:45 AM on October 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by BWA at 10:45 AM on October 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
Thanks for the explanation, Troika!
And speaking of "older woman," holy crap I couldn't believe that turned out to be Tilda Swinton.
posted by BurntHombre at 10:53 AM on October 17, 2013
And speaking of "older woman," holy crap I couldn't believe that turned out to be Tilda Swinton.
posted by BurntHombre at 10:53 AM on October 17, 2013
Use this trailer for a lightning round version of Wes Anderson Bingo!
(Looking forward to the movie.)
posted by Snerd at 11:06 AM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
(Looking forward to the movie.)
posted by Snerd at 11:06 AM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
These could just about be procedurally generated at this point. I'll still see it though
Procedural Wes Anderson is a great programming challenge.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:17 AM on October 17, 2013
Procedural Wes Anderson is a great programming challenge.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:17 AM on October 17, 2013
The Wes Anderson Generator is just a stack of New Yorker magazines from the 60s.
posted by The Whelk at 11:24 AM on October 17, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:24 AM on October 17, 2013 [6 favorites]
Obligatory link to "The Cloud Photographers," a soundtrack for a non-existent Anderson film.
posted by Iridic at 11:33 AM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Iridic at 11:33 AM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I've seen all the Anderson movies, more than twice. (I should specify, I've only seen a few Paul W.S. Anderson movies (and any only ever once) but all the Paul T. Anderson movies (more than twice - guy's a fucking genius.)) Wes Anderson movies more than twice and as much because I liked them as because I was curious about how he put them together.
I thought "Moonrise Kingdom" was his best movie and I was really glad because man "Darjeeling Express" left me cold and I thought, "I think this guy's got nothing, he's just bluffing." afterwards. Even after the second time I saw it, I thought the script was really weak. I was relieved that "Moonrise" didn't stink - mannered as hell in places, but in all honest and heartfelt.
This looks crazy rich and developed - who knows, it's a freaking trailer and all, but I'll be in line at the first opportunity.
(I read the credits too and also noticed he's the only 'credited' writer which, I dunno, maybe that's gonna be a good thing. - also maybe someone else helped him/ wrote drafts but didn't get a credit? Owen Wilson worked on his previous movies that I did like)
Guy works a lot and works hard and has more hits than misses. And he's not Paul W.S. Anderson. Though he's also not Paul T. Anderson. Win some, lose some.
posted by From Bklyn at 11:58 AM on October 17, 2013
I thought "Moonrise Kingdom" was his best movie and I was really glad because man "Darjeeling Express" left me cold and I thought, "I think this guy's got nothing, he's just bluffing." afterwards. Even after the second time I saw it, I thought the script was really weak. I was relieved that "Moonrise" didn't stink - mannered as hell in places, but in all honest and heartfelt.
This looks crazy rich and developed - who knows, it's a freaking trailer and all, but I'll be in line at the first opportunity.
(I read the credits too and also noticed he's the only 'credited' writer which, I dunno, maybe that's gonna be a good thing. - also maybe someone else helped him/ wrote drafts but didn't get a credit? Owen Wilson worked on his previous movies that I did like)
Guy works a lot and works hard and has more hits than misses. And he's not Paul W.S. Anderson. Though he's also not Paul T. Anderson. Win some, lose some.
posted by From Bklyn at 11:58 AM on October 17, 2013
TILDAAAAAAAAA!
Seriously. I didn't know how I could love her more, and yet somehow I do.
posted by Madamina at 3:27 PM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Seriously. I didn't know how I could love her more, and yet somehow I do.
posted by Madamina at 3:27 PM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Everything I have seen about this movie leads me to believe no one has a really good bowel movement in it. I therefore refuse to see it.
Smash the poopiarchy!
posted by poe at 8:17 PM on October 17, 2013
Smash the poopiarchy!
posted by poe at 8:17 PM on October 17, 2013
Ed Norton is leading a search party again?
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 11:05 AM on October 18, 2013
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 11:05 AM on October 18, 2013
I think he's trying to earn back his leadership patch.
posted by Dr. Zira at 1:20 PM on October 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Dr. Zira at 1:20 PM on October 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
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posted by jim in austin at 8:18 AM on October 17, 2013