I will NOT be doing a Wes Anderson video essay
February 26, 2015 1:59 PM Subscribe
This is remarkable if for no other reason than linking me to Tony Zhou's tumblr.
But Matt Zoller Seitz. Holy crap, dude.
posted by sleeping bear at 2:17 PM on February 26, 2015
But Matt Zoller Seitz. Holy crap, dude.
posted by sleeping bear at 2:17 PM on February 26, 2015
Thank GOD. What the hell would he talk about anyway? Symmetry? Center-framing?
posted by ReeMonster at 2:28 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ReeMonster at 2:28 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
The aspect ratio change in Grand Budapest was pretty awesome.
posted by Artw at 2:30 PM on February 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Artw at 2:30 PM on February 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
The aspect ratio change in Grand Budapest was pretty awesome.
That, and the dramatic use of lighting change when Mustafa and the writer are having dinner. Like a play.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 2:53 PM on February 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
That, and the dramatic use of lighting change when Mustafa and the writer are having dinner. Like a play.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 2:53 PM on February 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Thank GOD. What the hell would he talk about anyway? Symmetry? Center-framing?
"Note how the prolonged tracking shot of slow-motion walking draws the eyes of the viewer away from the center of the frame and towards their cell phones."
I keed, I keed
posted by dephlogisticated at 2:56 PM on February 26, 2015 [10 favorites]
"Note how the prolonged tracking shot of slow-motion walking draws the eyes of the viewer away from the center of the frame and towards their cell phones."
I keed, I keed
posted by dephlogisticated at 2:56 PM on February 26, 2015 [10 favorites]
But how will we ever know about the genius of Wes Anderson? Who, who will tell us about his unexplored, misunderstood genius?
posted by naju at 3:16 PM on February 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by naju at 3:16 PM on February 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
Can a mefite get a direct link to the video? His tumblr is blocked at my office.
posted by Aizkolari at 3:17 PM on February 26, 2015
posted by Aizkolari at 3:17 PM on February 26, 2015
There is something about Anderson that drtives me nuts and I haven't found the words to eludicate it yet.
I kind of like(some of) his films but there remains a part of me that seems to silently hate them too. Whenever I try and talk about this madness my wife gets frustrated.
posted by edgeways at 3:21 PM on February 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I kind of like(some of) his films but there remains a part of me that seems to silently hate them too. Whenever I try and talk about this madness my wife gets frustrated.
posted by edgeways at 3:21 PM on February 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I reached a Wes Anderson tipping point somewhere between Moonrise Kingdom (which I loved) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (which I could barely finish). Something about his style has curdled for me and I found myself wrinkling my nose whenever the GBH was mentioned during the Oscars.
Which is a bummer because The Royal Tenenbaums is still one of my all-time favorite films. It's close to perfect in my mind.
posted by lunasol at 3:30 PM on February 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
Which is a bummer because The Royal Tenenbaums is still one of my all-time favorite films. It's close to perfect in my mind.
posted by lunasol at 3:30 PM on February 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
There is something about Anderson that drtives me nuts and I haven't found the words to eludicate it yet.
I think many people feel this way. I can't talk about it in a way that makes sense, exactly. I admire his films and they're a delight to watch. But when I think of what bugs me, it just raises more questions that aren't easy for me to answer (Why is preciousness a bad thing? Is too much perfectionism a problem? etc.)
If there's a piece that gets at the criticism in a way that's really worked through this stuff, I'd love to read it!
posted by naju at 3:35 PM on February 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I think many people feel this way. I can't talk about it in a way that makes sense, exactly. I admire his films and they're a delight to watch. But when I think of what bugs me, it just raises more questions that aren't easy for me to answer (Why is preciousness a bad thing? Is too much perfectionism a problem? etc.)
If there's a piece that gets at the criticism in a way that's really worked through this stuff, I'd love to read it!
posted by naju at 3:35 PM on February 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I share Julie Klausner's feelings towards Wes, but I sense she'd have a better shot at him than I would.
posted by pxe2000 at 3:38 PM on February 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by pxe2000 at 3:38 PM on February 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Wes Anderson folding his hands in front of his vest and beaming at you kindly while you try to explain to him that you hate him dot ytmnd dot com
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:42 PM on February 26, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:42 PM on February 26, 2015 [9 favorites]
"Why is preciousness a bad thing?"
It's like anything else, I think. If it's truly in service of some larger thing, then it's great. When it becomes its own raison d'être, then it's a problem. I think it's an occupational hazard of art that artists will confuse a technique in the former case with a technique in the latter case, in a way that often corresponds to their early career (when they're enamored of the shiny) and their late career (in the case of those surrounded by sycophants or who have otherwise fallen down a rabbit hole of self-reference).
I also think how it manifests in film (less so in theater, but also there) is somewhat weird and exceptional because auteur theory is really sort of a paradoxical approach to a medium that is so resoundingly collaborative. In the way that good book editors strongly influence how this plays out with writers, all the other collaborators on film end up having a very powerful effect on how an auteur's vision is realized in the finished work. By chance some talented filmmakers may never have the opportunity to really express their talent, and likewise, some filmmakers who have a great deal of talent but not the best judgement can end up being very successful when they have collaborators who make up for their weaknesses. So there's a lot of unevenness with auteurs in their careers, at least for those who make films the general public ends up seeing.
This preciousness and intense self-aware style of Anderson's is the type of thing that I usually hate (I cannot fucking stand DFW), but sometimes I think that Anderson does this with exquisitely calibrated judgment and expresses his vision perfectly. Other times, not as much.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 3:53 PM on February 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
It's like anything else, I think. If it's truly in service of some larger thing, then it's great. When it becomes its own raison d'être, then it's a problem. I think it's an occupational hazard of art that artists will confuse a technique in the former case with a technique in the latter case, in a way that often corresponds to their early career (when they're enamored of the shiny) and their late career (in the case of those surrounded by sycophants or who have otherwise fallen down a rabbit hole of self-reference).
I also think how it manifests in film (less so in theater, but also there) is somewhat weird and exceptional because auteur theory is really sort of a paradoxical approach to a medium that is so resoundingly collaborative. In the way that good book editors strongly influence how this plays out with writers, all the other collaborators on film end up having a very powerful effect on how an auteur's vision is realized in the finished work. By chance some talented filmmakers may never have the opportunity to really express their talent, and likewise, some filmmakers who have a great deal of talent but not the best judgement can end up being very successful when they have collaborators who make up for their weaknesses. So there's a lot of unevenness with auteurs in their careers, at least for those who make films the general public ends up seeing.
This preciousness and intense self-aware style of Anderson's is the type of thing that I usually hate (I cannot fucking stand DFW), but sometimes I think that Anderson does this with exquisitely calibrated judgment and expresses his vision perfectly. Other times, not as much.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 3:53 PM on February 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
I think Rushmore is a perfect movie (like Zoller Seitz, linked to in the post), but hated GBH and kind of thought I was the only one. I don't really know why, and I question myself because so many of my friends seemed to like it. I think part of it is that this was the second movie in a row in which he kills off a pet as a plot device -- that sort of shifted my perspective a bit in a weird way and while watching GBH I was thinking "oh so this is the movie a sociopath makes, because he finds violence and pain and endings and decay... funny." But I don't think that's really true at all. Rushmore is a beautiful, empathetic film. I don't know, there was something in GBH that really left a bad taste in my mouth.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 3:54 PM on February 26, 2015
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 3:54 PM on February 26, 2015
The aspect ratio change in Grand Budapest was pretty awesome.
Sam Raimi's shitty Oz movie did it first.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 3:56 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Sam Raimi's shitty Oz movie did it first.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 3:56 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Naju - the best I've read so far is Katrina Richardson's peice here
posted by edgeways at 4:06 PM on February 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by edgeways at 4:06 PM on February 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I guess that I'm in the minority that I like Anderson's later movies much more than his earlier ones which I found insufferable. I never understood the love for The Royal Tenenbaums or Rushmore but Moonrise and GBH are two of my favorites of this decade.
posted by octothorpe at 4:12 PM on February 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 4:12 PM on February 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
I could also never get past the issue that the hero of Rushmore is a really creepy stalker who should have had a restraining order filed against him.
posted by octothorpe at 4:21 PM on February 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 4:21 PM on February 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Sam Raimi's shitty Oz movie did it first.
Fuuuuuu-
posted by Artw at 4:27 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Fuuuuuu-
posted by Artw at 4:27 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think part of it is that this was the second movie in a row in which he kills off a pet as a plot device -- that sort of shifted my perspective a bit in a weird way and while watching GBH I was thinking "oh so this is the movie a sociopath makes, because he finds violence and pain and endings and decay... funny."
This is by far the strangest criticism of Wes Anderson that I've ever read. I've seen hundreds of movies that treat violence and death as fodder for humor...and I've only seen ten movies. I'm going to go ahead and guess that you're not a Tarantino fan.
posted by Edgewise at 4:32 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
This is by far the strangest criticism of Wes Anderson that I've ever read. I've seen hundreds of movies that treat violence and death as fodder for humor...and I've only seen ten movies. I'm going to go ahead and guess that you're not a Tarantino fan.
posted by Edgewise at 4:32 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Who's that?
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 4:41 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 4:41 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I liked Wes Anderson before he got popular.
posted by bstreep at 4:44 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by bstreep at 4:44 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Sam Raimi's shitty Oz movie did it first.
Galaxy Quest did it best.
posted by Zonker at 4:50 PM on February 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
Galaxy Quest did it best.
posted by Zonker at 4:50 PM on February 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
The aspect ratio change in Grand Budapest was pretty awesome.
Sam Raimi's shitty Oz movie did it first.
I haven't seen any of these movies... but the Coen's A Simple Man has an aspect ratio switch as well.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 5:25 PM on February 26, 2015
Sam Raimi's shitty Oz movie did it first.
I haven't seen any of these movies... but the Coen's A Simple Man has an aspect ratio switch as well.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 5:25 PM on February 26, 2015
The aspect ratio change in Grand Budapest was pretty awesome
It was neat for awhile. But as it became apparent that 95% of the movie was going to be 4:3, I really wished Anderson had flipped the ratios.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:30 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
It was neat for awhile. But as it became apparent that 95% of the movie was going to be 4:3, I really wished Anderson had flipped the ratios.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:30 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
A little disappointed that Tony doesn't want to do a Wes Anderson essay, but he makes a good point that there's plenty of good critiques out there.
I want Tony to keep working on things that surprise me (like his essay on how to film comedy right) rather than another analysis of something well-trod. Unless he plans to surprise me via the old switcheroo, which is OK by me as well.
posted by chimaera at 5:33 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I want Tony to keep working on things that surprise me (like his essay on how to film comedy right) rather than another analysis of something well-trod. Unless he plans to surprise me via the old switcheroo, which is OK by me as well.
posted by chimaera at 5:33 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah, deciding what he wants to do based on whether he's inspired will mean better quality than if he does stuff because it gets a lot of requests. And yeah, it's not like there's a shortage of stuff about Wes Anderson.
And the tumblr also gave me a Reddit AMA and his post where instead of a 2014 year-end list he looked at other people's 2004 lists and tried to figure which are still fondly remembered.
posted by RobotHero at 5:56 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
And the tumblr also gave me a Reddit AMA and his post where instead of a 2014 year-end list he looked at other people's 2004 lists and tried to figure which are still fondly remembered.
posted by RobotHero at 5:56 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Lunasol--I had the opposite reaction, i thot that moonrise kingdom was the end of a curdled style, adn the introduction to an ironic self awareness, and a bitterness or darkness or kind of meta-twee made GBH much better.
posted by PinkMoose at 11:08 PM on February 26, 2015
posted by PinkMoose at 11:08 PM on February 26, 2015
Interesting reactions. I've never exactly hated a WA movie, but not all of them have hit my sweet spot. Bottle Rocket (short and long) is essentially juvenilia, working up to a style. Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums expressed that style perfectly, fully engaged me in the characters and their stories, and retain a strong sense of having been about something many years later. Steve Zissou, Darjeeling Express, etc. all had their moments but mostly did not come together in the same effective way -- a sum of less than the total of their parts, if you will. Moonrise Kingdom felt like a return to form, and for me, GBH gelled again and is very possibly even better than those first two tours de force.
I was least happy of all with Fantastic Mr. Fox, even though one would assume that his approach is ideally suited for animation. It sort of hit the uncanny valley, you might say, between a film for adults and a cartoon for kids, suiting neither.
Anyway, this whole discussion is starting to resemble the problem I have with SNL discussions, the "when did it get bad for you" debate.
posted by dhartung at 11:21 PM on February 26, 2015
I was least happy of all with Fantastic Mr. Fox, even though one would assume that his approach is ideally suited for animation. It sort of hit the uncanny valley, you might say, between a film for adults and a cartoon for kids, suiting neither.
Anyway, this whole discussion is starting to resemble the problem I have with SNL discussions, the "when did it get bad for you" debate.
posted by dhartung at 11:21 PM on February 26, 2015
The Royal Tenenbaums was not busted. The emotional center of the film (Quentin's Ritchie's 'forbidden' love for Caddy Margot) is kind of muddled, and then further attenuated by the last (and for me most heartfelt) scene with Chas and Royal in the ambulance. Yet I fucking love that film and have seen it more times than I've seen "Fill-in-favorite-movie-you've-overwatched-here." And it's the flaws that I like. And Margot stepping off the bus to pick up Ritchie at the pier.
Similarly, but differently, I thought "Moonrise Kingdom" has been his best movie so far, though I also think "Rushmore" was pretty tight - and it's that that I appreciate, that it sticks to the story. It's what I always felt was the big flaw of "Darjeeling Limited," I didn't have a feel for what the point was.
In my own secret, shameful Rupert Pupkin moments of weakness, I get to re-write or co-author the next Anderson script, just to see if I can be his next Owen Wilson.
posted by From Bklyn at 11:44 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Similarly, but differently, I thought "Moonrise Kingdom" has been his best movie so far, though I also think "Rushmore" was pretty tight - and it's that that I appreciate, that it sticks to the story. It's what I always felt was the big flaw of "Darjeeling Limited," I didn't have a feel for what the point was.
In my own secret, shameful Rupert Pupkin moments of weakness, I get to re-write or co-author the next Anderson script, just to see if I can be his next Owen Wilson.
posted by From Bklyn at 11:44 PM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I like all of Wes Anderson's films unreservedly, and they never give me anything other than unalloyed pleasure. Thus I win.
posted by Grangousier at 2:29 AM on February 27, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Grangousier at 2:29 AM on February 27, 2015 [6 favorites]
Thorzdad: " The aspect ratio change in Grand Budapest was pretty awesome
It was neat for awhile. But as it became apparent that 95% of the movie was going to be 4:3, I really wished Anderson had flipped the ratios."
I still think 4:3 is a better aspect ratio for dramas, I think that we lost something in the mass switch to widescreen.
posted by octothorpe at 4:33 AM on February 27, 2015
It was neat for awhile. But as it became apparent that 95% of the movie was going to be 4:3, I really wished Anderson had flipped the ratios."
I still think 4:3 is a better aspect ratio for dramas, I think that we lost something in the mass switch to widescreen.
posted by octothorpe at 4:33 AM on February 27, 2015
What I liked about GBH is that so many cuts, both between scenes and within scenes, were intended to get a chuckle or at least a smile. I really enjoyed that movie, although I'm not sure I've ever seen another Anderson movie. Maybe it would wear thin.
I also like that he seems content to get just a small laugh. Small laughs work for me. Kind of denotes self confidence.
posted by Trochanter at 7:45 AM on February 27, 2015
I also like that he seems content to get just a small laugh. Small laughs work for me. Kind of denotes self confidence.
posted by Trochanter at 7:45 AM on February 27, 2015
the Grand Budapest Hotel was so dreadful
- and I actually had a fairy godfather in real life.
Like others above I'd be hard put to it to explain why it gives me the cringes. But I think it's a heartless, creepy film.
posted by glasseyes at 11:53 AM on February 27, 2015
- and I actually had a fairy godfather in real life.
Like others above I'd be hard put to it to explain why it gives me the cringes. But I think it's a heartless, creepy film.
posted by glasseyes at 11:53 AM on February 27, 2015
I keep trying to get into Fabulous Mr. Fox and it keeps punting me back out again. So, I can see what you're saying.
posted by Trochanter at 6:54 PM on February 27, 2015
posted by Trochanter at 6:54 PM on February 27, 2015
I truly love The Life Aquatic, in spite of myself. I think one of my big disagreements with the films is their disregard for naturalism, and I realize that's my problem. If the same movie had dragons and elves I'd say Oh, it's all an allegory, or something, Its in the name of art, Was Mrs. Dalloway a real person anyway, etc. But somehow these characters are being held up for us to emulate, in a way that other characters aren't (this guy is cool, implicitly, he plays championship tennis and raises bees and robs banks and knows survival skills etc.) And so I feel the lack of empathy for them and a kind of general grating at watching them. I want a truly naturalistic film from Wes Anderson the way I want a Beethoven sonata from that guy playing free jazz viola down by th subway stop. It's probably my own problem not his.
posted by newdaddy at 7:25 AM on February 28, 2015
posted by newdaddy at 7:25 AM on February 28, 2015
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