Hacker Cinema
The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun
2021 · Film · 108 min
Directed by Wes Anderson
The staff of an American magazine based in France puts out its last issue, with stories featuring an artist sentenced to life imprisonment, student riots, and a kidnapping resolved by a chef.
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13 comments on Hacker News
>The mood, character development, cinematography, quirkiness
Other than character development those are all part of the aesthetic and in his last two he mostly extended that aesthetic directly to the characters, dropped the essentially realistic relatable characters and turned them into caricatures who don't really develop; devices of the story and theme instead of what drives the story and develops theme. I would say he was doing things uncomfortable for him with The French Dispatch, which is why he did not quite pull off the meta aspect. I think his interests are in improving on story and narrative and exploring what can be done with them within the medium and his aesthetic is a means to those ends, a way to push things out of the normal perspectives and give him more room to do things like make highly metafictional films without going all out experimental.
I am perfectly aware there are other genres.
2022 - Kimi, After Yang, Crimes of the Future, White Noise, Official Competition, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Tar, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon
2021 - Nightmare Alley, The Card Counter, Zola, The French Dispatch, Come True, Don't Look Up, I Care A Lot,
2020 - I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Mank, The Sound of Metal, Possessor, His House
2019 - Climax, Uncut Gems, Parasite, Vivarium, First Cow
2018 - The Clovehitch Killer, Prospect, Mute, Anon, Mandy, The House That Jack Built, Cam, Sorry to Bother You
2018 had a glut of Netflix sci-fi B-movies that I think are very solidly good if not so great. I think they're underrated so I included them. I might have also messed up on the years.
These are all films I've seen. There are many others that I suspect are even better that I haven't seen.
The Grand Budapest Hotel was also one of Wes Anderson's strongest collaborations at the story level. Hugo Guinness was awarded a story credit for it and the framing of the film acts like it is an adaptation of a book by Hugo Guinness (that at least so far, has not been published as such). Grand Budapest leaves me wondering how much Wes Anderson would serve to benefit from more collaborators at the story level and larger writer rooms rather than soloing most of it. The French Dispatch being about that but written solo, seemed ironic in a bad way to me.
But of course, it could just be that Wes Anderson's writing doesn't speak to me as it does to some. I think Life Aquatic is often under-rated as a capture of what I find to be the more fun parts of Anderson's voice and Rushmore quite often over-rated. (I've just never liked Rushmore. It has never worked for me.)
Funny. I think he has decent engagement metrics behind the scenes because my list is
Moonrise Kingdom tied with Grand Budapest Hotel
French Dispatch
Then Fantastic Mr Fox
and not liking anything else he’s ever made, I tried. I thought I “liked Wes Anderson movies”, but really I like the direction his recent ones have gravitated more towards
and the French Dispatch doubled down on what he’s become known for, and I’m glad he did it. Third act was too much and I like the limited series idea.
I definitely think his audience may have changed (maybe at the risk of being too niche and alienating) because I really liked it
so, praise the algorithm
For reference, I’m American but lived in Paris for awhile. I wouldn’t say The French Dispatch is indicative of American views of France, more a very specific, Brooklyn-based, literary industry one. Which is also what The New Yorker is. A movie like Amélie is probably more in line with the American fantasy version of France.
While I’m a huge fan of Andersons earlier work, The French Dispatch was just… too much Wes in one sitting. Like tomato soup with extra ketchup.
A mini-series sounds like grand idea.
Not just likely. Definitely. https://letterboxd.com/rurban/film/the-french-dispatch/
The French Dispatch is likely Wes Anderson’s worst movie.
In the last 20 years more and more movies started delivering appropriate casting for f->m age gaps, mainly because of pr0n revolution and popularity of MILF trope.
American Pie 1999. Jennifer Coolidge -> Eddie Thomas = 19.
Don Jon 2013. Julianne Moore -> Joseph Gordon-Levitt = 21.
Mother Lover 2009 SNL skit is a classic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0DeIqJm4vM. Patricia Clarkson -> Andy Samberg = 19. Susan Sarandon -> Justin Timberlake = 35.
The French Dispatch 2021. Frances McDormand -> Timothée Chalamet = 38.
Comare that to My Tutor 1983 where 8 year difference was still seen risque.
I haven't found any sci-fi movie interesting or entertaining for the last decade or so because of all the CGI. It feels like it takes the human elements out of storytelling. Which is why I find Wes Anderson's movies such a refreshing take. They use nearly all practical effects and it is human and fun. I would recommend seeing the French Dispatch, his latest movie.
Comment written by cirrus3
Checks out ;)
We’re in the midst of a once in a century pandemic. The best movie theater in Seattle has been closed since the beginning of 2020 and may never reopen. I have way better food, and far cheaper drinks at home. I don’t have to pay ridiculous amounts of money to park. I don’t have to wear a KN-95 mask to feel safe. I can pet my dog while I watch the movie. I can rewatch scenes when I feel like missed something delightfully subtle, like I just did earlier tonight with Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch. I can pause the movie to go use the bathroom whenever I want to.
Sure, there are plenty of movies that benefit from a fantastic theater experience. But I’m not going to get that right now, especially in the city I live in. Maybe I’m just an old man yelling at clouds, or maybe it just isn’t ever worth going to a theater to watch Hangover, Part 3 or whatever.
Go watch The Batman in a theater if you want to. I’m not telling you how to live your life.
Speaking of color, the new Wes Anderson movie, The French Dispatch has stunning colors.
> When was the last time you saw actually original[...], creative, non-"mainstream" movies at your city's cinema?
Encanto (11/24)
King Richard (11/19)
Last Night in Soho (10/29)
The French Dispatch (10/22)