My Movie Journal is Better Than Yours

Notes History

Date Viewed	Venue	Note
08.13.23	Internet	Huh. On the one hand, I'd say Wes Anderson has all but invented a genre with his career and it's pretty remarkable that he's managed to make 11 of these movies with singular voice and vision. But then I watched this, and... I feel like I say this every time but he's pushing this precocious artifice further and further with each endeavor and the films get prettier and prettier but the stories get more and more disconnected from human emotion. This one is just a giant onion of posture, like it's a child playing with dolls or a miniature train set or a video game or diorama. For me, the story didn't penetrate he formalism. Not to say that it was bad. I think it was a successful execution... certainly fun performances from a gigantic cast and the sets look amazing and the camera is so locked in on those dolly tracks you can all but see the bubble level just above the frame. And there are a few moments which struck me as clever, like Brian Cranston's character and hearing Rupert Friend's british accent, but mostly I think I hit the tipping point of where Anderson's style folds in on itself too much. It was quite pretty to watch though.