SMALLS THOROUGHLY ENJOYS HIS STAY AT THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a pretty complicated film. It's essentially a story within a story within a story. We start out with a young woman in The Republic of Zubrowka reading a book entitled The Grand Budapest Hotel (a non-fiction narrative in this universe), authored by the Republic's "national treasure". The film mainly takes the perspective as if we are reading the book ourselves. In it, the author recounts his stay at the formerly elegant Grand Budapest Hotel, which has seen better days. The hotel's owner,  Zero Moustafa (When old played by F. Murray Abraham, when young played by Tony Revolori), tells the author about his history at the hotel and the adventure he embarked on with his mentor/best friend M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes), the head concierge at the hotel. When one the frequent elderly patrons of the hotel is found murdered at her mansion of a home, M. Gustave is pinned as the culprit and so together Zero and Gustave have to set out to clear his name, along the way getting involved with a prison break, an art heist, a high speed chase, and a shoot-out.

Now, normally I'm not a fan of Wes Anderson. The other two films of his I have seen (Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom), I found to be lacking. The Grand Budapest Hotel though, is a completely different story. It's a film that I by all accounts I should not like, but somehow I wound up loving nonetheless. I couldn't help but smile while watching the film. The film itself is downright labyrinthine with it's multiple stories (there's really only two, but both are equally rich), millions of different cameos/bit roles by Anderson alums, and twisting main adventure plot. It's a rich, complex, and elaborate film but damned if I didn't have a fun time watching it. This is easily the best Anderson film I have seen thus far. 

Tony Revolori is great as young Zero Moustafa, devoted friend to M. Gustav and new Lobby Boy for The Grand Budapest. Saoirse Ronan is cute as Agatha, the bakery girl that capture the affections and heart of Zero.  The beating heart of this film though is easily Ralph Fiennes as M. Gustave, a proud and elegant man from a different time who always holds his head up high and speaks in elegant prose (even in the worst situations he still speaks in elegant prose and maintains that air of sophistication, which I found to be really funny). The Grand Budapest Hotel is his baby.  His whole demeanor is that of sophistication, to the point where you can't help but wonder if everything about him is just an act. Beneath his squeaky clean facade you see a little bit of slime, as he romances rich, older blonde women who gladly give him great amounts of money for his time and attention....yet, he seems to genuinely love and care about these women. At least this much can be said for M. Gustave, without a doubt he is a great man at his core, and he is endlessly watchable.

The second strong point of this film is the dynamic and friendship between Zero and M. Gustave. The chemistry between Ralph Fiennes and Tony Revolori is rich, and their numerous scenes together are a complete joy. You really buy these two as "blood brothers", and it's surprising to find how deeply you care and are invested in their stories by the time the end of the film rolls around.  I'd say they are one of the best contemporary screen duos and are pretty damned memorable. 

The third strong point is easily the sets and atmosphere of the film. The Hotel itself is appropriately grand, lush, European, vibrant, elaborate, richly detailed (you could spend the whole film just looking at the sets the characters are set in and I'd dare say you would be just as satisfied), and elegant. Interestingly enough, a sizable portion of this film takes place outside of the hotel's walls, but we still spend more than enough time inside the hotel as well (The Grand Budapest might as well be a character in the film).  The world Wes Anderson has crafted in this film is one of the best I've seen, every little detail is fully realized and indeed, what's going on in The Republic of Zubrowka is the secondary story of the film, although this plot is all in the background. This story is essentially about how things are slowly going from good to bad to worse in The Republic of Zubrowka and how the characters are kind of helpless to stop this.....almost victims of sort. It's kind of heartbreaking. The setting of The Grand Budapest Hotel is itself a reflection of the state that The Republic of Zebrowka is in (really a genius idea of you ask me). 

As previously stated, many Anderson alums show back up in a head-twirling number of bit roles. These include (deep breath) Jeff Goldblum, Owen Wilson, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Murray, Adrian Brody, Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Edward Norton, F. Murray Abraham (as previously noted), Harvey Keitel, Larry Pine, Wallace Wolodarsky, Waris Ahluwalia, George Clooney, Neal Huff, Gabriel Rush, Lucas Hedges, Carl Sprague,  and Bob Balaban. Most of the cast in this film does a great job in their roles, even if the part they have to play is a minor one. 

While most of the film is pretty joyful, exuberant, and fun there is still an underlaying layer of melancholy and what feels like an unavoidable sad fate that finally takes front and center during the last ten or fifteen minutes of the film. Yes, this film does end on an appropriately dour note, but I find that this only added to my overall enjoyment of the proceedings. It was the correct way to end it  in my own personal opinion, and it made the overall film feel all the richer. 

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a fascinating marvel to watch. Even if viewers find themselves wonderfully lost in the twisting and winding plot (it really is quite head-spininng, but in a good way in my opinion. It's hard not to get caught up in it all), they should still find more than enough enjoyment in the acting of Ralph Fiennes (he really is our way in). It's probably a good idea that, if you are new to the films of Wes Anderson, that this would not be a good place to start. Go out, sample other of his films and then come back and see this one.   While I don't think that this is the film that will make believers out of any one who isn't already fond of Wes Anderson, I will say that there is more than enough substance and layers in The Grand Budapest Hotel that even the most jaded of persons should find something to enjoy here.  Buckle in and enjoy the crazy ride.

4.5 STARS