STACK J#165 Jul 2018

DVD & BD

FEATURE

WES ANDERSON Considering, Mr Anderson Words: Jonathan Alley GATEWAYS C onsidering the collected works of filmmaker Wes Anderson, one Irony is everywhere and ‘deadpan’ is almost an Welcome to Wes World: STACK ’s picks. Isle of Dogs (2018)

Anderson’s latest wonder delivers political intrigue and social satire, while charting environmental anxiety, through the tale of a young boy who crashes a plane on an island of rubbish, populated by exiled dogs – one of whom the 12-year old (Atari) is trying to locate. This stop-motion wonder

actual language. From his 1996 debut, Bottle Rocket, to his latest

comes to an inescapable conclusion. In his way, he has quietly pulled off the impossible. His films – each their own remarkable, beautifully designed and highly idiosyncratic set of human misadventures – are commercially successful. On paper, they should not be. Granted, they do attract a consistent cast of well-regarded Hollywood names – Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, George Clooney, his regular co-writer Jason Schwartzman, and several others. Despite their overly involved, lengthy exchanges of dialogue, implausible and often absurd storylines, Anderson’s quite wondrous (and quite story specific) production design aesthetic and wonderfully drawn characters always seem to win the day. Even those characters we may not like – Gene Hackman’s irritating, childish and indulgent Royal Tenenbaum; Bill Murray’s overtly childish, petty Herman Blume in Rushmore – are fulcrums to their respective stories, and maintain an essential human appeal. Whatever the setting, the Anderson oeuvre is immediately recognisable.

treatise on the vagaries and oddities of society, Isle of Dogs , he creates ensembles of outliers; perhaps reflecting (or creating) the peers he once had, or wished he had. Children are mature beyond their years, while adults are mostly simply quite ridiculous. Anderson plays with our anxieties – love, family, money, art, the environment and other things that go deep with humans – in an almost playful way. Each of his works have their own individual signifiers; be it colour (compare the faded pinks of The Grand Budapest Hotel to the rich, vivid, hippy trail weavings of The Darjeeling Limited ), soundtrack (the Portuguese Bowie covers of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou ), or costume (tennis gear in The Royal Tenenbaums , hotel garb in The Grand Budapest Hotel , Scout uniforms in Moonrise Kingdom ). With these simple devices, and stories interwoven from the strange place that is the human heart and the mad things it makes us do, Wes Anderson has created a wonderfully strange world it’s our pleasure to visit.

features the voices of Bryan Cranston (in a wonderful turn as stray pooch-turned-political convert, Chief) and other Anderson regulars like Bill Murray. Yoko Ono has a cameo as a scientist, who is named ‘Yoko Ono’. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) Ralph Fiennes has enormous fun playing M. Gustave, the concierge of the dilapidated

Grand Budapest hotel. There’s love, a lobby boy, a painting, and a murder. The absurdity of human emotional extremes writ large, it’s simply wonderful entertainment. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) Snappier and more ironic than the English whimsy author Roald Dahl might have imagined, George Clooney is wonderful as the titular character in this animated adaptation of the famous children’s book. Again, the sense of ensemble both director and cast bring to bear is masterful. The Royal Tenenbaums (2002) A rich but dysfunctional, over-achieving family in an unrecognisable New York is Anderson gold. The first of his ticklish ensemble pieces, there are few faces here – Ben Stiller for one – who don’t turn up again in his work, which is unusual. Gene Hackman is irresistible as the damaged patriarch; his lovable and irritating irascibility very true to life. Rushmore (1998) While its cast is more conventional – no ensemble, just leads and supports – this love triangle between a terrible student obsessed with campus clubs, a bored millionaire and a widowed teacher is so crackingly well-written and acted, it easily stands up 20 years on.

The Royal Tenenbaums

• Isle of Dogs is available July 18 on DVD and Blu-ray. All other titles available at JB Hi-Fi.

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