Quarantine Film Club

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) is another entry in the always beautifully eccentric works of Wes Anderson. A personal favourite of mine from his filmography, everything about this film is charming, entertaining and beautifully put together, from the story to the characters to the agonising detail in every shot of this delight of a film.

Anderson remains true to his usual form of out of the box writing, with the main narrative of the film being a story, within a story, within a story, within yet another story. The main story of the film is that of Zero, played by Tony Revolori, a young lobby boy at the Grand Budapest Hotel, and M. Gustav, played by Ralph Fiennes, the renowned concierge of the establishment. The chemistry between these two makes for an incredibly believable friendship that sees them through a mission to retrieve a painting, a prison break and attempting to escape a cat murdering henchman among many other unpredictable twists and turns. The flow of the story was spectacularly sporadic and I was never able to predict the next place it would turn.

The cast can be called nothing short of star-studded, it is filled to the brim with recognisable actors, some familiar faces to Wes Anderson films, many of whom appear for only one or two scenes in small comedic roles or cameos, among this plethora of entertaining appearances are those of Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Jeff Goldblum and Owen Wilson.

Of course, I can’t talk about a Wes Anderson film without mentioning the cinematography. Anderson’s signature style of obsessive symmetry and coordinating colour schemes is more than noticeable in this film, however, as can sometimes be the case, it is not simply employed for the surface level purpose of the visuals, it is also used at great length to emulate the mood of the scene. Many sets being purposefully constructed with a colour scheme in mind so as to create one overall feeling or sensation for a shot or sequence.

Overall, this film is nothing short of a delight to watch, with comedy both subtle and overt scattered throughout a story which is ultimately about love in all the forms it can take; I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Revolori (left) as Zero and Saoirse Ronan (right) as Agatha 

Inglorious Basterds (2009) is hailed by many as perhaps Quentin Tarantino’s best film, with several interwoven story threads all of which overlap for a jaw dropping climax in a crescendo of classic Tarantino violence.

The titular group, the Basterds, are an undercover squad of Jewish-American soldiers operating behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France, with the sole purpose of causing mayhem by ambushing and killing Nazi soldiers. The leader of the group Aldo Raine is played by Brad Pitt who delivers a stellar performance which is equal parts comedic and chillingly demented, as is the case for many of the other men in the group.

The primary antagonist of the film, colonel Hans Lander is played by Christoph Waltz who fits the role perfectly, carrying himself in an incredibly imposing manner and establishing himself as such in perhaps one of the most tense scenes in cinema, the very opening scene of the film, which also introduces us to another of the films protagonists, Shosanna, played by Mélanie Laurent.

Shosanna, a jewish woman in hiding in France and owner of a small cinema is on the run from Lander but unfortunately finds herself wound up in the Nazis’ activities more than she would like. Unfortunately, that’s about as much as I can say without spoiling major events of the film.

The unique cinematic style of Tarantino’s other films is also present here, this of course due to his long-time director of photography Robert Richardson. The pair have worked together on almost all of Tarantino’s films, bringing a uninformed style in terms of shot composition and framing to each and every entry in Tarantino’s filmography.

Needless to say that Tarantino’s signature filmmaking flare is not lost here, as the rapid pace only slows to create tension which is always payed off satisfyingly and never bogs down the flow of the narrative. No characters feel wasted, like they do not have a place or a purpose. I cannot recommend this film highly enough, definitely my personal favourite of Tarantino’s films.

Waltz as Lander, an imposing colonel of the SS

The film Nightcrawler (2014) follows Lou, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, as he works his way up through the world LA crime journalism, working as a cameraman gathering footage of crime scenes and breaking stories. I found great interest from a journalistic perspective as the film shed light on the cuthroat nature of modern journalism, mainly as a consequence of the 24 hour news cycle.

I went into this film with very little exposure to Jake Gyllenhaal as an actor, and he did not disappoint. The fast, consistent pace of this film was a nice escape from the cooped up surroundings I have been forced into by the lockdown.

I found the heightened tension in the scenes of Lou filming the accidents and crime scenes really helped carry the flow of the film. The escapism which many people seek in watching films in general was something I was particularly after in this case as is pretty clear from the name off this blog itself, regardless, the pace of the film and the intrigue of Lou’s character made for a very immersive and realised experience.

Although there is not a great deal to be said for any kind of stand out cinematography, the use of perspectives was incredibly refreshing and suited the story well. Lou’s journey to success from starting with almost nothing up to running an effective business is an extremely satisfying process to watch. An interesting thing I noticed in terms of this was Lou’s evolving attitude the longer he continued to stay in his line of work. At the very beginning he would arrive at crime scenes and react emotionally, with shock and surprise, whereas later on in the film he became increasingly desensitised, approaching crime scenes with an increasingly clinical attitude, making him a more difficult character to empathise with as the film went on.

I don’t intend on giving any kind of rating as this is not a review, rather just my thoughts and how the film distracted me from quarantine, which it did so very effectively. That said, the film is widely regarded as an excellent and fast paced thriller, and I certainly think it delivered in this respect.