The Grand Budapest Hotel

Just come back from watching this and the best word for it is - delicious! I am a Wes Anderson fan and I'm not disappointed

The film unfolds as a story told to a writer by the elderly Zero, the owner and former lobby boy of the hotel. The plot darts off around the republic of Zubrowka via the hotel on various zany outings. Ralph Fiennes camps it up in a beautifully mannered performance as concierge Gustav H, with the youngster Tony Revolori as Zero, his protege as his innocent foil.
There's so many cameos here including an almost unrecognisable Tilda Swinton as a decrepit old aristocrat and one of Gustav's love conquests . There's Ed Norton, Bill Murray, Harvey Keitel, Geoff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Adrian Brody and more.

There's the usual Wes Anderson attention to detail on the sets which my daughter in law kept on nudging me in appreciation. The little animated/modelled scenes were a joy, and reminiscent of the Fantastic Mr Fox .

Such a pleasure to watch , it brought such a lot of gorgeous colour to the end of a working day for us, perfect! Well recommended

Going to see this tomorrow!

Totally agree. Saw this last night and really enjoyed it. Wes Anderson fans will lap it up, but this also reaches out to a wider audience with its playful sense of humour and gorgeous production design. Highly recommended!

Saw it yesterday, a fantastic film!

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In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

Just saw it today. I'm a huge Wes Anderson fan, and this did not disappoint. Super fun, and just as beautiful as his other movies.

I'm waiting for a rip.

The juxtaposition of austere romantic fantasy with bursts of the profane and brutal is a hoot and a half. Retrieving a dead cat in a plastic bag at a coat check is one of the most darkly wonderful bits of cruel whimsy I have seen in a while.

And Finnes, not surprisingly, is perfection.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Wes Anderson has now officially become the king of enjoyably odd movies. After Moonrise Kingdom and The Fantastic Mr Fox, along with the Darjeeling Ltd, the Tennenbaums, etc, he’s one-upped himself with the Grand Budapest Hotel. The old Europe dies, fascists arrive and a fun time is had by all.

A reporter (Jude Law), staying in a declining alpine hotel, meets a super-rich guy who wants to tell his story. Having started out as a “Lobby Boy” Moustafa was the trainee of “M Gustave” (Ralph Fiennes) on the service staff of a great hotel in about 1930. Gustave attends to the “needs” of rich old female guests until one dies and he inherits a valuable painting. Greedy family members of the old lady (especially Adrien Brody) WANT that painting and are willing to do anything to get it.

What follows is a frolic through a striped-suit prison, a jail break, chase scenes, being arrested by Nazis, all the while being assisted by the resourceful, ever faithful Mustafa. In his latter years, super-rich Mustafa returns to the hotel because it’s where his life arc began. Now he wants his story told. A birth marked lover, the death of Gustave, the decline of the hotel and the war play into the story.

The movie is funny, full of the cartoony imagery and odd acting that Anderson puts in his movies. If you wonder, just what is “odd” acting, I don’t know what it is, but I know it when I see it and this movie is full of it. The movie is full of cameos by actors who often appear in Wes’s movies, especially Bill Murray and Ed Norton as well as Jeff Goldblum, a cadaverous Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel and on and on. I completely enjoyed it. Did I say this, but Anderson's movies are just so ODD.

Yes. So much delirious fun and a way more effective synthesis of Anderson's newish Fantastic Mr Fox/Moonrise Kingdom style than those movies were. Skiing down the mountain after Dafoe, escaping from jail and especially Hitchock/De Palma murder in the museum are all set pieces only a master could conjure. Black and white scene on the train at the end might the saddest, most emotionally affecting thing he's ever done.

And obviously Fiennes is amazing. What other actor could spit out the word salad he has to in this movie and still keep it intelligible and funny. Also loved the performances of everyone else but especially Tony Revolori, Saoirse Ronan, Edward Norton (so funny when he started talking and he just sounded like Ed Norton), Goldblum, Tilda, Law/Abraham and Adrien Brody. I mean Adrien Brody first realizing Boy With Apple is missing is really amazing. No one uses profanity for comedic effect like Anderson.

Seriously you Wes.

I'm going to start my first screenings (ashamed and lucky!) of Wes Anderson soon, highly curious. From the few short glimpses and trailers I saw, I'm pretty certain that I'll love this man's work, or at least make it a guilty pleasure of mine.

Saw this the other night. Beautifully shot. Wes Anderson's corky voice all over this. I don't know just didn't do it for me. It had it's moments. And it was fine performances by Ralph F and the actor who plays the lobby boy, and basically all around. Ralph F character just sorta of annoyed me. He would drone on and on, I just didn't root for him as much as I should have. Maybe a re watch is required to like him more.

The hotel after the first 20 or so minutes is hardly in the movie. Bizarre really. The final stage of the film is definitely the best part, just felt like it took forever to get there.

With me saying all this I do believe it was entertaining and worth a watch. I still liked it just not as much as I thought I would. I definitely preferred Moonrise Kingdom to this. I was more emotionally attached to Moonrise.

6 out of 10

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I came here to do two things, drink some beer and kick some ass, looks like we are almost outta beer - Dazed and Confused

101 Favorite Movies (2019)

My review---

'The grand Budapest hotel' does invoke nostalgia for the old times . Those times are long gone---trampled by nazi jackboots and later crushed by the dead hand of communism , for Budapest in this movie is a metaphor for central Europe ; Budapest being the capital of central European nation of Hungary .

But for those who want to relive the old times---those times are all over the movie . Times of a grand hotel with impeccably well mannered staff oozing old world charm . Times of impossibly rich blonde lady guests getting such great personal service that it extended to having a good time in bed with the concierge of that grand hotel . And the concierge being a thorough gentleman---not blackmailing them but being ever so discreet , to the point that he refuses to name the lady client as alibi in a murder charge against him even though the murder occurred at the same time when the lady was with him .

So who is this thorough gentleman ?? He is Monsieur Gustave , played by Ralph Fiennes . He runs the grand Budapest hotel in a fictitious central european country in flamboyant fashion , oblivious to the coming world war that is about to erupt around him . And the very fact that he is oblivious of that coming world war makes him ' a glimmer of civilization in the barbaric slaughterhouse that we know as humanity ' . For he tries to live life with honesty and justice---being kind to his dependents as well as being strict with them , welcoming that dependent without distinction of race or religion , and honoring blood pacts made with a that dependent even though his life is on the line .

And who is that dependent ? He is Zero Moustafa ( played by Tony Revolori ) , a refugee from another fictitious middle eastern country . He is the bellboy of the grand Budapest hotel , who shares his boss's adventures in the movie .

Those adventures consist of Gustave being framed in a murder charge of an old lady who has bequeathed a very expensive old painting to Gustave . And then Gustave and the ever loyal Moustafa running from the police to prove Gustave's innocence . And also running to protect themselves from the old lady's unscruplous relatives who want to lay their hands on the painting at all costs---even ready to kill and miame anyone crossing their path .

So do Gustave and Moustafa succeed in getting the painting ?? And do they succeed in freeing Gustave from the murder charge ?? Who gets to inherit the old lady's property in the end ??
Watch the movie for that...

But are the above questions important ?? The painting and the murder charge and the old lady's property is trivial in comparison to the tidal wave of war that is about to erupt around the characters . The adventures of Gustave and Moustafa seem so corny compared to the tidal wave of the history of those times .

And the intention of the director is to be deliberately corny---it is the irreverence and the corniness that gives humour to the film . History is all around them---in the newspapers the bellboy Moustafa delivers , whenever their train is stopped by nazi sounding officers , and when their hotel is taken over by soldiers .

Yet the characters are in their own world---Gustave and the relatives are fighting over the painting and the will , Moustafa has fallen in love with a girl with a curious Mexico shaped scar on her face , and Moustafa has the chutzpah to warn Gustave not to practice his charms on his girlfriend !!

Maybe the director wanted to show that people tried to go on with their lives even though all hell was going to break loose around them .

Or maybe the director has the heart of a liberal . Maybe he wanted to show that good people are people who welcome refugees ( like Moustafa ) from middle eastern countries with open arms , that good people are those who co exist with immigrants from Mexico .

And Ralph Fiennes plays that good man to perfection . His character's image remains nice in our mind even though he indulges in debauchery---sleeping with both geriatric female guests and male guests too . That's because he plays his role wittily and funnily and above all with practiced charm .

Revolori almost matches Fiennes in his acting . The capers in the movie ( like the escape from the prison , and the murderous chase down a skiing slope ) are humorous rather than heart pounding , and keep the entertainment alive . Also humorous are many of the dialogues and situations in the movie .

And yet the climax of the film leaves you with a lump in your throat . Isn't that just perfect ??

Well , I don't know if it is perfect , but it is a different movie than the ones I have seen in the past . And I liked the difference....

Verdict---Good .

Just rewatched this and grew a new appreciation for it as an ode/paen to civility in the face of our current idiocy

I loved this. Saw it few times and just found it so chrming. I need rewatch.

His best film in my opinion.