The Grand Budapest Hotel (Throwback Review)

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a marvel in what I consider to be some perfect film making. There's nothing quite like its sense of humor, blending the Wes Anderson style of humor both poking fun at characters as well as celebrities playing them, while mixed with a particularly dark vibe that leaves you laughing from discomfort. This movie makes you feel both happy and yet very, very uncomfortable with what you're watching. 

The film is told in a flashback, not from the narrator, but from the person being interviewed by the narrator. It tells the story of Zero Moustafa, a native of the fictional Republic of Zubrowka, who is training under the master concierge Monsieur Gustave H. to become the next great concierge. This head concierge is accused of murder, thought to have killed one of his frequent guests for the inheritance of a painting called "Boy With Apple", supposedly a painting of great wealth. So much wealth, that the family is enraged at his inheritance of the painting, and presses the charges. The story moves on in predictable fashion enough, becoming a movie where obviously everything goes wrong. 

But there's more to the film than that. There's a heart that makes it all believable, or at least so passionate that you desperately want to believe it to be real. The characters, even the detestable ones played by Adrien Brody and Willem Dafoe, are a pleasure to learn about and watch. They add a level of a backward loving hatred, not unlike the love a child has for the villains in their favorite story books. The film, while mostly dreary in its own way to imply impending war, death, and sadness, is still colorful and vivid, as if a completely unforgotten memory, one with every detail still completely intact. 

There's no way for me to approach talking about The Grand Budapest Hotel without spoilers. It's like any Wes Anderson movie - a flavor that I just can't spoil for anyone. It's a masterpiece of filmmaking, one that you just can't forget experiencing. I can't see why you'd want to, anyway.

Rank - 5/5