Film Friday: Wes Anderson's 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' starring Ralph Fiennes

If 2014 has proven anything in the film world, it is that a film's awards chances shouldn't be limited because of an early release. Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel was released back in March, but the film has garnered several nominations already and is looking to be the director's most successful film at the Oscars. That's well-deserved, since his eighth feature film proves that he's the most unique American filmmaker working today.

The director's influences are far different from his contemporaries, which shows up on the screen, especially in Grand Budapest. As a bumbling, hilarious trip through a fictional Europe that's about to break into war, the film is a tribute to Ernst Lubitsch movies like Ninotchka, Trouble In Paradise or The Smiling Lieutenant.

M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) is the suave concierge at the Grand Budapest Hotel in Zubrowka in the early 1930s. When his latest old lady conquest – Madame D. (Tilda Swinton) – suddenly dies, he inherits the most priceless object in her collection, a painting called Boy With Apple. Needless to say, Madame D.'s family, especially her son Dmitri (Adrien Brody), so Dmitri tries to frame Gustave for his mother's death. Gustave winds up in prison, but he escapes, only to be chased around Europe by Dmitiri's hit-man, Jopling (Willem DaFoe).

To help him in his quest to stay alive in an age where he doesn't belong, Gustave has Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori) follow him around. The lobby boy becomes Guauve's closest confidant and the film is told through his point of view.

Actually, the film is on three different layers. It starts off with a young girl approaching a monument for a nameless author, with his book, The Grand Budapest Hotel, in her hands. Then, we see the old Author (Tom Wilkinson) in 1985, who tells the audience about his 1968 trip to the hotel, where he met older Zero (F. Murray Abraham). Older Zero tells the story of Gustave to the Young Author (Jude Law), which takes up the majority of the film.

Anderson's style is usually what draws people to his films, but he may have finally made the film that proves to a wider crowd that he's an actor's director, too. After all, there must be a reason why Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, F. Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law and Edward Norton all wanted to work with him, either for the first time or again.

Fiennes is a revelation in this comedic role, since he has made a career out of starring in dramatic roles. There's just something completely unexpected about hearing Fiennes yell, “Keep your hands off my lobby boy!” and delivering Anderson's long-winded, witty speeches.

Tony Revolori is also hilarious in this film, keeping up with Fiennes at every point. Norton and Saorise Ronan are the stand-outs among the huge supporting cast, with Norton showing off the perfect comedic timing developed for Moonrise Kingdom once again. Perhaps his work with Anderson helped Norton give the excellent performance in Alejandro G. Inarritu's Birdman.

Any time a scene features just Fiennes and Revolori is pure cinematic gold. I love the argument they have after Zero helps Gustave escape, especially the exchange over their escape outfits and Gustave getting angry over Zero forgetting his favorite perfume.

“Honestly -- you forgot the L’air de Panache? I don’t believe it,” Fiennes says, as if this is the most important thing in the world. “How could you? I’ve been in jail, Zero! Do you understand how humiliating this is? I smell.”

The whole scene really encapsulates the best of Anderson's very literary writing. His dialogue feels like it comes from a novel, not a film. Little details that other filmmakers might try to tell visually are told through dialogue in Anderson's films. He uses it as a tool, not just as a necessary formality, to tell a story. You can learn everything about a character just by reading his or her dialogue in the film.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is Wes Anderon's best Wes Anderson movie. While that's become a cliché to say about all of his films, it's pretty much all we can say at this point. Anderson is never going to make a movie isn't like his previous work, just like Martin Scorsese's best films are... well, the best Martin Scorsese films. The best directors make movies that only they could make and Anderson is one of the best, as his latest shows.

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