Tuesday, January 20, 2015

"What is a lobby boy? A lobby boy is completely invisible, yet always in sight." - M. Gustave in 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'.

Would you like to awaken your inner child? Do you like fairy tales? Do you mind a movie that takes you to a zany world made of vibrant colors? Welcome to the world of Wes Anderson'sThe Grand Budapest Hotel'.


 ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel' is like Arabian Nights, where stories are nestled into each other waiting to be explored. It starts with a girl reading a book where the author visits a decaying hotel in the Republic of Zubrowka. The author meets the hotel’s owner Zero Moustafa, who narrates the story of his inheritance of the hotel and why it is important to keep it open.

It is the year 1932 and young Zero (Tony Revolori) is fascinated with the opulent hotel and it’s glorious concierge, Monsieur Gustave (Ralph Fiennes). Gustave is a favorite with older women and one of the ladies is "Madame D" (Tilda Swinton) who spends an entertaining evening with Gustave. A few days later, Madame D is found dead under mysterious circumstances and in her will she bequeaths a valuable painting to M.Gustave. This enrages her family who implicate him as the murderer. The story catapults into chases, the discovery of a second will and the final capture of M.Gustave. 

Ralph Fiennes and Tony Revolori are a joy to watch as the duo who escape the villains in a series of adventures. Fiennes is as comfortable with humor as he is with serious intensity (The Reader). He breathes life into Anderson’s whimsical world. Tony matches Fiennes, even though he does not have as many dialogues. His large expressive eyes make up for that.

Wes Anderson is a master of a distinctive style of art décor. The
intense colors -  pink walls, crimson carpets, staff waistcoats of electric magenta camouflage the gray fascist regime in Europe at that time. Inspired by the writings of Stefan Zweig, Grand Budapest Hotel also has the morbid dreaminess of a Grimm fairy tale: quaint and picturesque, but reflecting real-world anxieties and the dangers of manipulative villains, while heroes of yesteryears try to bottle up the nostalgia.

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