The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More (Wes Anderson, 2023)

[therewillbeblus]

How alarmed should we be that Criterion is now four Wes Anderson features behind?

Both Criterion and Anderson have other priorities, and if Anderson is going to be cranking out more art instead of taking a break to visit Criterion’s offices, I’m cool with that. Given the company’s recent change of ethos, I also wouldn’t be surprised if UHD upgrades of already-released WA titles come before any new ones

[knives]

Saw the titles project just now and was suitably wowed. Has Anderson spoken of Sporn as an influence on these adaptations? I thought there was a tremendous amount in common especially the use of tear away background and plane based movement. That one shot through the hospital made me jump.

[captveg]

The final short Poison was actually my favorite. It's a sharp little story with a clever title and message, and the staging and performances are really at a high point for the series, IMO. In all, I greatly enjoyed all of them. These types of short film productions are perfect for streaming as a distribution model.

[hearthesilence]

I didn't realize this was nominated for the "Best Live-Action Short" Oscar. I know MoMI and MoMA were both interested in screening all six Roald Dahl shorts as part of their year's best program but were told that only Henry Sugar was being made available by Netflix - wondering if this is due to their awards seasons strategy (raising the odds of a nomination and win by not splitting the vote) or perhaps to ensure eligibility just in case releasing all six in a program raised any red flags? Regardless, once the Oscars are over, it would be great to be able to see all six theatrically, though it would probably have to happen in a repertory program.

[Matt]

Six?

[Never Cursed]

Yeah, I thought I read somewhere that there were more than the four already-released shorts made, and that at least one would feature location shooting in a jungle somewhere. I can't find where I read that, though

[hearthesilence]

Ah, I meant four - I think I mixed the number up with the book title, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More (though granted that's really seven).

[Ribs]

In unbelievably hysterical news considering how they took no time at all to stop pretending it's a short film until it won an Oscar, the anthology film version of the feature will be released on Netflix Friday. I'm sure it will be shown in this format in the major city Netflix venues in due course when there's a gap. And, as expected, the title is officially The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More.

[hearthesilence]

In the immortal words of Best Live Action Short winner Steven Wright, "since this is the short film category, we're really glad that we cut out the other 60 minutes."

[swo17]

the title is officially The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More.

Is that just what Netflix is calling it, or has Anderson said anything about this being the intended title before? I was under the impression that just "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" was the intended title for the entire anthology film

[therewillbeblus]

I'm wondering if he didn't show up last night because he felt awkward about competing in that category. He clearly intended it to be like The French Dispatch, and likely wouldn't have wanted to edge out other filmmakers in a category he wasn't categorizing his film as being a part of.

[hearthesilence]

All this reminds me of that bit they filmed for a previous Oscar nomination...would be an applicable joke to this case.

[swo17]

I'm wondering if he didn't show up last night because he felt awkward about competing in that category. He clearly intended it to be like The French Dispatch, and likely wouldn't have wanted to edge out other filmmakers in a category he wasn't categorizing his film as being a part of.

He wasn't there because he's out of the country to start shooting his next film. Here's a sort of acceptance speech

[domino harvey]

While watching, I kept coming back to the idea that the only possible move for Anderson to pivot to is not further maximalization (this film was barely coherent, any deeper in this direction and it will just become a collection of GIPHY links) but some form of restraint. Give us a small scale story, where the stylistic accoutrements flavor and highlight the action versus being the raison d’etre, or include me out. Because I can’t take too many more Anderson films like this.

I wrote those words a few years ago about the French Dispatch, and I am happy to see that this is precisely what Anderson has done in all four of these shorts. Anderson's unusual approach of valuing and prioritizing the voice of Dahl's writing via the incessant narration, often even by the characters themselves, is not easily categorizable. The shorts obviously share a lineage with the theatrical troupe approach of having actors play multiple roles within the same production (not just via different shorts, but within the shorts as well), but these are neither Max Fischer-esque plays nor visualized radio programs. Rather, Anderson refuses to depict certain aspects of each story best left to the imagination. And for Anderson to finally, at long last, after so many years of increasingly intricate visualizations of quite possibly anything he could imagine, make this choice is a radical step-- and it allows for other, increasingly dormant strengths in his talent to shine.

The stories Anderson has picked are, other than the titular tale (which I have not read), not ones I'd have guessed he'd be drawn to. In fact, based on those I have read, there are a few missed opportunities here-- one can easily imagine Anderson having a grand time with something like "Neck" or, if he really wanted to give himself a stretch, Dahl's grotesque parody of Candide, "Pig". But those we get do give him a chance to exercise some new muscles. Indeed, the Swan resonates so strongly because it is devoid of humor-- Dahl gives his tale a mordantly amusing black heart of its increasing calamities, but Anderson finds and emphasizes the sadness of the material. Just as unexpected is the Rat Catcher (which I have also not read), a wonderfully unpleasant premise which devolves into a series of shots in its finale completely alien to Anderson's style, representing more the kind of cheap and tawdry close-ups one might find in a horror anthology series from the 80s (even, perhaps, in the one Dahl himself used to host). The titular tale of this quartet is, as I noted when this was announced, seemingly custom made for Anderson's interests, and it does not disappoint in that arena. Dahl loves stories of gamblers engaging in unfair advantages ("Taste", "Dip in the Pool", "the Man From the South", &c). But this iteration features an unexpected optimism I do not associate with Dahl (and for good reason) which acts as a differentiator from Dahl's other works in this vein.

The least successful of these shorts is Poison. Alfred Hitchcock, literally at the height of his powers (he filmed it mere days before starting the shooting of North by Northwest) already tried his hand at adapting this for his TV series and couldn't make it work, so I don't know what would compel any director, no matter how talented, to think they could do better. Anderson's one seeming advantage is in keeping the original ending. But it's immediately obvious why Hitchcock would mandate the change for his version, and that's that it throws away a terrific set-up on a familiar small note of racism/classism, a kind of slice of life realization of one's place in society that Katherine Mansfield specialized in (and Dahl did not). But perhaps there is just no good way to complete this compelling scenario without deflating its impact. I wish he'd picked another Dahl tale of an unexpected interaction between a doctor and patient, "the Sound Machine", a darkly comic story of a man who invents a machine that reveals flora make horrifying screaming noises when plucked, shorn, chopped-down, &c. Especially with this quartet's emphasis on audio over visual, it'd be a stronger fit with some similar dynamics remaining.

As a side note, in contrast with Asteroid City, I must commend several of the performances here. Kingsley, Patel, and Ayoade all bring liveliness to their perfs while still delivering their lines with a level of separation from the material that Anderson loves so much. He should invite them all back for future projects.

[copen]

All i got from the Henry Sugar movies is, it's a bunch of people talking to the camera. it's all just the 'covid movie' stuff, when no one was able to make large scale movies. (no, am not trying to start an argument).
the 2020-2022 covid movies time-period, is the worst period for movies since the 1980's debacle.