In theory, The French Dispatch is a look at the "French foreign bureau" at a Kansas magazine, by way of a series of stories published in its fastidious pages. In practice, this is a bunch of short stories, featuring at one point or another nearly every actor Anderson has ever enjoyed working with. And it is a monument to Anderson's incredibly cultivated, visually precise, quirky-twee sensibilities.
Though that may sound like I'm against Anderson's way of making movies, I'm really not. If I were, I simply would stop seeing them and leave them to the fans. But even though I may have thought I knew what I was in for with a Wes Anderson movie, I wasn't prepared for this one, which swings so hard at the signature style that it almost feels like a parody, like what someone else would do with an unlimited budget and the "Anderson Repertory Company."
A jumble of different film aspect ratios? You've got it, with even less consistency than normal. The French Dispatch slips in and out of 4:3, 16:9, split-screens, animation, black-and-white, and more. It rarely stays in one mode for long, using the switches not to ground time frame (as in The Grand Budapest Hotel), but to simply provide occasional thematic emphasis on certain moments and ideas. It's very artistic, but also not at all subtle (even, I think, for people who don't ordinarily take any notice of film aspect ratio). Subtlety is the one thing you should never expect from a Wes Anderson film, but still, the director has "leveled up" his approach here.
Oh-so-serious acting delivering unbridled absurdism? Oh yeah, you've got that too. Indeed, this might be one of the more overtly comedic Wes Anderson films I have seen. It delivers several laugh-out-loud funny moments, all throughout the movie. Most of these stem from the cast being in a sort of Matter-of-Fact-Off to deliver the most ridiculous one-liners with the most authentic earnestness. At different times in the movie, you'll be convinced the winner of the contest is Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Timothée Chalamet, Adrien Brody, Benecio del Toro, Jeffrey Wright... or nearly any of the ludicrously "deep bench" this movie has on the roster. Owen Wilson, Elisabeth Moss, Frances McDormand, Liev Schreiber, Edward Norton... ah, I'm just going to give up, because we'll be here all day if I try to list all the people in this movie you would recognize.
But as funny as the movie often is, it's also equally a sensory assault at times. Besides Anderson's own relentless visual tone, Alexandre Desplat delivers a score so repetitive and plucky that it'll remain stuck in your head for days. In total... I did mostly like The French Dispatch. Mostly. But it's Just. So. Overbearing. Yet at the same time, it doesn't feel like it adds up to much in the end. And yet it is well made.
Yeah, my feelings are complicated on this one. I think I'd only call it a C+ for myself, but I'm sure there are many who are going to love it.
No comments:
Post a Comment