![]() From its outset then, The French Dispatch promises to deliver the classic Anderson experience of slightly bonkers humour and stunning visuals. It is something that Anderson is a master at – a prime example being The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014). It takes great confidence as a director to hold a single take (the average Hollywood take being much shorter), without dialogue and just trust that the result will be comic. One of the opening establishing shots for the first section of the paper is a very long, unbroken shot of a waiter carrying a tray up several flights of complicated stairs, contraptions and lifts. But in true Anderson fashion, he does not give his audience what they expect. Think of the ariel view of New York before jumping into any given episode of Gossip Girl (Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, 2007-2012). Often, filmmakers will open with an ‘establishing shot’ – which does exactly what it says on the tin it establishes things like time, setting and location. The French Dispatch is nothing if not bold. ![]() And whilst most of my expectations were met, at least where an Anderson film is concerned, I did feel in places that it had almost become a pastiche of his earlier work. As a result, I had very high expectations when going to see The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson, 2021) in cinemas yesterday. Not to mention, he’s one of the few filmmakers that can make me laugh purely with how he frames a shot. His obsession with symmetry, eclectic colour palettes and formalism create a kind of surrealist film that marries perfectly with the magic realism of his screenplays. His films are a beautiful medley between the critic’s dream and the audience’s delight, making both feel distinctly clever but not alienating one or the other. But all that aside, it cannot be disputed that Anderson is deserving of the title of modern-day auteur. Granted, he’s not the greatest when it comes to intersectional filmmaking (the majority of his biggest feature films revolving around straight white men) and his films for the most part remain intentionally devoid of politics. Wes Anderson is one of my greatest filmmaking inspirations.
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