Directed by: Wes Anderson
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Léa Seydoux, Adrien Brody, Benicio Del Toro, Frances McDormand, Owen Wilson, Jeffrey Wright
Wes Anderson’s latest experiment might possibly signal how movies will look like in the future.
There will not be just one, but multiple stories inside a single film. There will be actors in the movies but they won’t do anything- they’ll just be moving figures. The movies will be absolutely unwatchable. Audiences in theaters will be just a formality- with their minds full with the problems of everyday life, who’ll care if the movie is watchable or just an unexamined parade of pictures on the screen.
That is exactly what the French Dispatch is: a parade of moving pictures without any sense, any connection, or anything providing any kind of coherence. Just a massive collection of images thrown on the screen.
And what makes this project a total miss is the absence of acting. Anderson brought together a cast of superstars and did not give them any room to act. Instead, he strangled the whole thing with long, fast talking dialogue and narration full of unnecessary information. Why? Why not let the stories flow? Yes, all 3 stories are unique and bizarre, but then, let them flow as unique bizarre stories. Don’t imprison them inside a narrative making them long, ugly, and unclear.
On the positive side, the movie looks great. Everything is so colourful, so perfectly designed, and is so well filmed. Editing and production design, as always in Wes Anderson’s movies, is driven to perfection.
“No crying in my office” says the Editor-in-Chief of the fictional gazette The French Dispatch. But, considering the effort, investment, and all the good work on the cinematography side and how that stands in complete contrast to the more than hour and a half of boring narration, it for real should make you cry. So much good work, huge potential and a flop as an outcome- it warrants crying. Long, heavy and loud.
This movie is just for selective audiences. If you decide to try to watch this, be ready for headaches. Yes, intense headaches are possible, especially if you are brave enough to finish watching the entire length of the movie.
Wes Anderson deserves credit, even after a miscue like The French Dispatch, just because for the last 3 decades, he has given so much. This time, apparently, he inserted too much spice, even for his own criteria.
Sometimes, even the great masters of exclusive cuisines are able to surprise with a bad dish.
