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The French Dispatch

Posted by tunenut on December 21, 2021 at 10:17:46:
Wes Anderson inspires mixed feelings in me. His movies are in fact an odd mixture of extraordinary skill in cinematic art and silliness.

And this describes, for me, this most Wes Anderson-ish of creations, The French Dispatch. For silliness, the setting is a town named Ennui in France, set on the Blase River. And more names of this ilk.

But wow, the visuals are just great. He composes scenes chock full of details and composed with an artist's eye. Frame by frame, some color, some black and white, the viewer can be absorbed by these visuals. And his cast is filled with A-list stars, not just his usual gang like Bill Murray, but even small parts are often major stars who seem to be having fun being silly.

So The French Dispatch is a magazine, started as part of a Kansas newspaper, and it is explicitly a tribute to the classic days of the New Yorker, where great writers put out long-form pieces. And the movie is basically 3 separate stories, each by one of their top writers, one on art in prison, one on a revolutionary youth movement, one on a kidnapping from a police station with a great chef.

Are any of these great? I would not say so. There are some laughs, the dialog sparkles, and again, the visuals are absorbing. So it's a bit of fun, especially if you already like his style. What I found missing was an emotional connection, which I did have with his Moonrise Kingdom and others.