criterionforum.org

I rented it from Apple

I was pretty sure this was Anderson’s worst film until the last segment, where he started to right the ship just enough to keep it from the precipice (while still dwelling in the lowest ranks). The talent for being able to create these fascinatingly intricate exhibitions of style needs to be tempered with some sense of appropriate restraint and a functional necessity for the tricks shown, otherwise it’s just indulgent showing off, which comes across as insecurity here. This is just too much for too little. I get his jokes and references, they’re just not funny. And I get his style, but I’ve seen it before. 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'm more or less with you even if I do ultimately like the film; your old comment about just how much worse Grand Budapest would have been without Fiennes as an anchoring central figure looms all over this one (and five minutes of Bill Murray doing his usual shtick doesn't pick up the slack). There's a reason so much of social media cited the beautiful closing moments of the third segment as a highlight: it's the only bit of the film that sat with its characters. For me, the most disappointing element of the film was just how quantity-over-quality Anderson managed to get with regards to his formerly-mastered bags of tricks - we have (Adobe Flash-looking) propulsive animated action scenes in the third segment and the invocation of a language barrier through colorful on-screen subtitles in the second, but neither of these features were deployed with anything near the meaning or craft found in his wacky talking dog movie (a masterpiece in comparison and on its own).

domino harvey wrote: Sun Jan 02, 2022 7:07 am I was pretty sure this was Anderson’s worst film until the last segment, where he started to right the ship just enough to keep it from the precipice (while still dwelling in the lowest ranks). The talent for being able to create these fascinatingly intricate exhibitions of style needs to be tempered with some sense of appropriate restraint and a functional necessity for the tricks shown, otherwise it’s just indulgent showing off, which comes across as insecurity here. This is just too much for too little. I get his jokes and references, they’re just not funny. And I get his style, but I’ve seen it before. 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. 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 felt pretty much the same. As a long time Wes Anderson fan, I was disappointed. The whole film, I just found it uninteresting with characters I didn't really give a shit about.

I rewatch Moonrise Kingdom pretty often and it's striking how, although by most other filmmakers' standards it's mannered and fussy, it has the kind of breathing room that Anderson really hasn't allowed himself since. And most of the intricate motifs are tied into emotions that are very simple and plangent.

pistolwink wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 4:23 am I rewatch Moonrise Kingdom pretty often and it's striking how, although by most other filmmakers' standards it's mannered and fussy, it has the kind of breathing room that Anderson really hasn't allowed himself since. And most of the intricate motifs are tied into emotions that are very simple and plangent.

Agreed, while I still prefer the raw angst of his earlier pre-self-actualization work, it's one of my favorites and bests many of those earlier films, and a perfect crossover between that further push for intricate detail and stripped-down emotional resonance not getting swallowed up by a priority for aesthetic interest. Also, as an aside, the final "Cuckoo" music cue is my favorite in Anderson's entire oeuvre, which is saying something

this page, page 10, has made me laugh and also cry

is it possible we are all repressed film makers? or frustrated ones? or think we are. Some of what has been said seems to be aesthtetic judgement of his aesthetic against what you feel it should be -- but, like, people, it's his aesthetic to make it like he needs it and for us to then think on why he might have made it that way (to the extent anyoen can make anythign be the way they want it)
and as for comedy in TFD, did you notice how he seems to be a little off the beat of the laughs some of the time -- like he is suggesting it, but delivers it a bit different, sometimes making me wonder if it was comedy at all (e.g. the big fight in the exhibition -- whilst the swtich on of power to the chair was more as expected)

I'll be away for an undisclosed number of weeks, so say what you like, maybe I'll see it sometime

Finally saw this, and it's certainly his most mechanical film, like one of those Rube Goldberg videos that starts in a room, goes outside, starts climbing up trees, crossing rivers, scaling hills, casting Ed Norton, etc. In a lot of ways it's like another try at GBH, only I thought this one landed better. It's so busy and technically accomplished and fast-moving that I can see this all being distancing, but I was really in the mood for it today. (And perhaps it helped going in with no or low expectations.) Actually, if you break Anderson's filmography into coming-of-age vs. show-offy films, this might be my favorite of the latter category, at least following first impressions. I loved the attention shown to faces, especially for McDormand, Seydoux, Murray, and Dafoe. And what a discovery Lyna Khoudri is!

Still waiting to see this... (alas)

I still rent physical Blu-rays from Netflix and this is how long it took to get to me, having it at the top of my queue since January

swo17 wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 8:07 am Finally saw this, and it's certainly his most mechanical film, like one of those Rube Goldberg videos that starts in a room, goes outside, starts climbing up trees, crossing rivers, scaling hills, casting Ed Norton, etc. In a lot of ways it's like another try at GBH, only I thought this one landed better. It's so busy and technically accomplished and fast-moving that I can see this all being distancing, but I was really in the mood for it today. (And perhaps it helped going in with no or low expectations.) Actually, if you break Anderson's filmography into coming-of-age vs. show-offy films, this might be my favorite of the latter category, at least following first impressions. I loved the attention shown to faces, especially for McDormand, Seydoux, Murray, and Dafoe. And what a discovery Lyna Khoudri is!

I felt the same way. I didn't think it was going to be a favorite - and it's not - but it's got some great set pieces. The one that turns into a shootout later on was pretty amazing - as I watched that, I thought "if this was coming from someone else or it was, say, 1995 and everyone saw this plopped in the middle of a crime comedy, they'd be knocked out by the entire spectacle of it." Highly entertaining stuff, worth catching.

Considering how entertainingly busy this fim is it took me a bit to realize that...

Spoiler

this movie has a pretty high body count and so far is the one Wes Anderson film that has the highest

I also enjoyed the not so subtle nods to Tati. People have said Grand Budapest is the "most Wes Anderson" fim but it is definitely this one even though he tries a few new things out here

A salute to writers and expatriates, Wes Anderson’s tenth feature takes the form of the final edition of The French Dispatch, a weekly magazine chronicling life in the city of Ennui-sur-Blasé, France (for American readers). Made up of three featured stories—a profile of a tortured artist, a report on student revolutionaries, and a recounting of a tabloid kidnapping with a gourmet twist—plus an obituary and a travelogue, this dazzlingly constructed anthology mixes everything from theatrical interludes to tableaux vivants to comic-book animation. The superb ensemble cast includes Adrien Brody, Timothée Chalamet, Benicio Del Toro, Frances McDormand, Léa Seydoux, Owen Wilson, and Jeffrey Wright.

4K master approved by director Wes Anderson, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
Audio commentary featuring Anderson and collaborators Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman
Selected-scene storyboard animatic
Behind the Scenes of “The French Dispatch”
No Crying: How to Overcome Blasé Ennui, a visual essay featuring the writing of film scholar David Bordwell
Episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour featuring Anderson, New Yorker editor David Remnick, and actor Jeffrey Wright
The French Splatter-School Action-Group, an interview with artist Sandro Kopp, who created Moses Rosenthaler’s paintings in the film
“Aline” by Jarvis Cocker, a music video directed by Anderson and illustrated by Javi Aznarez
The French Dispatch
The French Dispatch reads the New Yorker, featuring Wright and actors Bill Murray, Stephen Park, Elisabeth Moss, Owen Wilson, Frances McDormand, and Tilda Swinton reading excerpts from classic works associated with the New Yorker
“The French Dispatch”: Miniature Unit Berlin
Accidentally Angoulême, a tour of the French town where the movie was made, by the team behind Accidentally Wes Anderson
Trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by critic Richard Brody; excerpts from the limited-edition magazine issue of The French Dispatch, published to promote the film, including historical and production dispatches by writer Alex Pasternack and further-reading recommendations from Anderson; and a poster by Javi Aznarez featuring the French Dispatch magazine covers created for the film

New illustration by Javi Aznarez

I honestly cannot wait to dive into the supplements on this one. They sound simply wonderful.

That delightful cover will make it a little easier for me to forgo the big box.

As a comparison point, I believe the existing Blu-ray is completely featureless

domino harvey wrote: Sun Jun 01, 2025 8:58 pm As a comparison point, I believe the existing Blu-ray is completely featureless

Yep. I thought it had a making of featurette but I was proven wrong