10 reasons to watch Wes Anderson's films and fall in love with his work

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

What you need to know about the favorite director of hipsters and urban romantics, who directed "Isle of Dogs".

1. He's a perfectionist

Like many famous directors whose work we love to stare at until blue in the face, Wes Anderson is a perfectionist to the core. You will unmistakably recognize his author's handwriting by how painstakingly his films are constructed. To begin with, Anderson mainly uses the same font in the inscriptions, arranges frames exclusively in the center, and prefers the scenery only as miniature and hand made.

With such a passion for excellence, it is not surprising that Anderson is involved in all stages of the production of his films: he is a director, screenwriter and producer. Unless it appears in the frame.

2. He has an impeccable taste

Anderson's delicacy would be in vain if his films were not so impeccable in terms of style. I would like to examine each frame under a magnifying glass, and arrange an exhibition of arts and crafts from the objects that appear in them. Whether it's the baroque hotel interiors of the Grand Budapest Hotel, the colors flooding the frame in the "Kingdom of the Full Moon", stop-motion animation or Tilda Swinton's make-up, you can be sure that every element in Wes's picture will be passed through a unique author's filter.

It is no coincidence that art books are published on Anderson's films, and film critics make guides on his work with detailed illustrations. And the director himself loves to dress to match his original films: his colorful jackets and speckled dude socks will wipe the nose of any hipster.

3. He is a great music lover

Perhaps the main thing in which Anderson's impeccable taste and perfectionism show themselves to the fullest is the selection of soundtracks. Perhaps, if you are now listening to rock and roll of the 60s or French chanson, this is precisely his merit. It was Anderson who returned the widespread love to the songs These Days performed by Nico or Le temps de l'amour by Françoise Hardy, letting the young heroes of the "Kingdom of the Full Moon" dance to her.

Forgotten pop hits and bizarre national compositions are the source of the lion's share of the charm of all Anderson's paintings without exception. In the same "Kingdom", almost every character has their own musical accompaniment, in "Fantastic Mr. Fox" you can dig up old tracks in the country style, and "Train to Darjeeling" opens with the grandiose This Time Tomorrow of The Kinks - and it unexpectedly gives the forgotten new sounding melodies.

4. He's a desperate cinephile

Of course, Anderson did not create his style from scratch. It has deep roots in the classics of world cinema. For example, many viewers have noted the similarity of his directorial handwriting with the works of Kubrick more than once. Wes himself also recognizes the influence of Scorsese (especially on his debut work), and critics see in his paintings traces of a variety of masters: from Truffaut to Miyazaki.

The list of all kinds of borrowings in Anderson's films is so huge that it doesn't make much sense to compile it. But we can say with confidence that the influence of Anderson himself on modern cinema will definitely be no less.

5. He is the author of great teenage pictures

Most of Wes Anderson's films are in one way or another devoted to the stories of growing up (or revolves around the eternal theme of fathers and children - that is, the family). Starting with one of his first films, "Rushmore Academy", and ending with the recently released cartoon "Isle of Dogs", Anderson makes his central hero a child confronting the oppressive world of adults.

At Rushmore, he is a schoolboy fighting an industrial businessman for the attention of a young teacher. In the "Kingdom of the Full Moon" - teenagers in love escaping from adults. At the Grand Budapest Hotel, there is a young concierge assistant who participates with a mentor in a scam to get the inheritance of an elderly guest.

Even in those films where adults seem to be in the foreground for Anderson, young characters take a strong place in the plot, and the characters that have already grown up continue to behave like children. Of course, as the film progresses, they all inevitably mature.

6. He makes amazing puppet cartoons

Besides teenage stories, Anderson excelled in animation. Back in the film "Aquatic Life", he used the method of stop-motion-animation (time-lapse shooting of puppet characters) to depict the mesmerizing fauna of the underwater world.

Later, at this reception, he will build two animated films: the film adaptation of Roald Dahl's fairy tale "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and his new creation "Isle of Dogs". The action of the latter takes place in Japan of the future, where in one of the prefectures an evil cat-lover mayor decides to expel all the dogs to a garbage island. The main character, 12-year-old Atari, goes there in search of his faithful dog. The video below makes it clear how hard work Anderson and his team have done when creating such a cartoon.

7. Bill Murray has played his most non-standard roles

Of course, each viewer has their own idea of the best and the worst. In our opinion, Bill Murray has never been as inimitable as in Wes Anderson's eccentric films.

Their collaboration began 20 years ago, with Rushmore Academy, where Murray embodied the image of a sentimental industrial tycoon. Since then, the actor has never left Anderson's set for a long time, starring in both episodic and leading roles. Our favorite is grim oceanographer Steve Zissou from Aquatic Life.

8. He opened the world to Owen Wilson

It so happened that the first people Anderson met when he moved from his native Austin to Dallas were the Wilson brothers. With them, the aspiring director came up with a small short film about young Texas romantics who became robbers, which later resulted in a full-fledged debut called "Bottle Rocket". Although the film flopped financially, it was thanks to him that the world learned about the existence of Wes Anderson and discovered the Wilson acting family.

Two brothers, Andrew and Luke, starred in several more of Anderson's films, after which each went on a solo voyage. But Owen not only remained a frequenter of Wes's films, but also wrote several scripts for his films, becoming a full-fledged co-author of the director.

9. He always has a certain set of stars removed

More often than not, you will see the same faces in Anderson's films. We can say that a kind of acting troupe has formed around the director, which is only replenished after each new project. At the same time, the director manages to discover new names (as is the case with the Wilsons), but gives preference to already proven people. The same rule applies to the film crew.

Among those who regularly appear in the tapes of Wes Anderson, we have already mentioned Bill Murray and the Wilson brothers. Jason Schwartzman, Angelica Houston, Adrian Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Tilda Swinton and Harvey Keitel can also be attributed there.

10. He's always positive

No matter how terrible the trials that the heroes of his paintings are subjected to, we love Anderson's films for the fact that they will inevitably come to a pacifying ending. Even if retribution for the death of a friend did not take place ("Water Life"), love went to another ("Rushmore Academy"), and peaceful life gave way to war ("The Grand Budapest Hotel"), Anderson's characters never lose heart and always find a way out from the deplorable situation in which they found themselves.

So if you ever feel stumped, play any Wes movie without hesitation. You can be sure that he will instill in you a grain of hope for a successful outcome.