Culture
Now Playing: A look at Wes Anderson’s filmography
By: Gordon Briggs
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Now Playing is a column by film scholar Dr. Gordon Briggs. This installment in the series corresponds to the Now Playing column that ran on Tuesday, June 17 about The Phoenician Scheme.
Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme is just the latest in a filmography that spans over 30 years and a dozen films. Many of which focus on family and unique friendships. Here are three of my favorites:
Bottle Rocket (1996)
Wes Anderson’s first feature is a fantastic heist flick emphasizing family. I lived in Texas for many years, so of course, I love Bottle Rocket. It’s a heist film that works as a lighthearted family drama. While other crime films focus on violence, this one works because the story focuses on the brothers’ innocence and naivety about the world (Owen and Luke Wilson are great here). It all culminates in one ridiculous yet funny heist scene where everything that can go wrong does go wrong. Rating: ★★★ 1/2
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Not only do I think Fantastic Mr. Fox is one of the strongest Wes Anderson films, but it’s also one of the best stop-motion flicks out there. Crafted out of rich autumnal colors and the sleek pace of a heist flick, we follow the tale of Mr. Fox, a crafty old fox trying to go the straight and narrow but still finds himself raiding the farms of his human neighbors. Maybe it is the excellent voice acting from the cast or those close-ups of the eyes of these creatures, but the film gives a depth and “humanity” to these animals that surpasses what was written in the book. This work has very few human faces, yet we can spot glimpses of humanity in the faces of animated clay animals. Maybe that ability to humanize furry animated animals is what’s truly fantastic about ‘Mr. Fox.’ Rating: ★★★★
Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
At first, the laughs are light and effervescent (just watching Ralph Fiennes’s eccentric character run his upscale hotel is charming enough). Still, I enjoy how the movie gradually wanders into darker territory. Grand Budapest begins in the present with a girl reading a book; then it flashes back to 1985 to the book’s author, who recalls meeting another man in 1968, who recites the story of another man’s life in 1932. Rather than obscuring its subject, those many layers only enrich this story about the rise of fascism, the ambiguity of history, and what happens when people stop being civilized to one another. It is a close call, but it’s my favorite comedy of the 2010s. Rating: ★★★★