An author is staing at the Grand Budapest, and then notices an older man. He finds out that the man is Zero Moustafa, the current owner of the hotel. Moustafa then begins to tell a story about a concierge of Grand Budapest, Gustave H, and how he was accused of murdering a woman, and other adventures they shared between the first and second world wars.
I think I wanted to see The Grand Budapest hotel ever since I first learned about it. I don't even know what made me so interested. I just had the feeling I might like it. And I was right - I truly did. For many reasons.
There's one thing about this movie that is needless to say, but I'll say it all the same: the cast is amazing. Many famous actors and actresses, but most of them in very small roles. Ralph Fiennes was amazing, of course his role wasn't exactly small. Fiennes was amazing and so was his character, who was awfully polite and friendly in a weird way. I mean it totally was professional politeness that was there even though he wasn't working, but it felt weirdly genuine, even though it was completely over the top. Then of course there was the lovely Saoirse Ronan who I've liked even before I saw her in a movie. She's a wonderful actress, and extremely... well, lovely is the best word. Then there was Edward Norton, who I've loved since The Incredible Hulk. His character Henckels was hilarious in a weird way - the character was totally serious, but somehow all the situations seemed weirdly funny. Or maybe it was just me, I don't know. And of course there was Tony Revolori, who I need to see in other movies as well, he was marvellous. There are many wonderful actors and actresses, and I really can't talk about all of them this much, or the whole post will be just adoring actors and actresses, even though I really want to talk about more things. But there are several actors I'd like to mention, that I was glad they were there, even if they didn't do much: Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law and Jason Schwartzman.
Now to the other thing I'd been dying to write about. The filmography in this film was amazing - and I've heard Wes Anderson does this kinda filmography often: it's how the shot is centred. There's always that one part you can see is at the centre of the shot, and usually the background is very symmetric. Then of course the characters are somehow there, not usually in the middle, but your attention goes where it needs to go. Like at one point were Dmitri was chasing (well, walking) after Agatha, it took me a while to notice that Henckels was at the corner of the shot. I almost bursted out laughing when I noticed him. But I absolutely loved the filmography. I think I might watch another movie by Wes Anderson just for the sake of looking at some beautiful filmography.
And this movie made me realise something about the genre "comedy". I mean when I think about the genre "comedy", first movies that come to my mind are actually the crappiest examples of that genre. And then there's The Grand Budapest hotel, which is probably one of the very finest examples of comedy. It's not forced comedy, and it's not the kind of comedy that makes you laugh at every joke. No, it's the kind of comedy where the situation just makes everything a tiny bit funnier. True, it's not as funny as some not-so-subtle comedy, but even though you may not laugh at everything, subtle comedy makes you happy, and you might smile after the movie without noticing.
The Grand Budapest Hotel is a great movie, and I hope people who haven't seen it will watch it.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
10/10
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