Wes Anderson is a director, well known in the film community
for his idiosyncratic and distinctive style. His films have become immensely
popular in the past twenty years since his debut film, Bottle Rocket. He has been nominated for multiple Academy Awards
and received the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2015. Though I
should warn you if you aren’t a Bill Murray fan, because he has made an
appearance in every one of his films (but who doesn’t love Bill Murray?). Anderson’s
way of doing things is either admired or despised by his audiences because of
his uniqueness. I can remember the first time I watched one of his films, Moonrise Kingdom. I walked out of the
theatre thinking “that was the stupidest movie I had ever seen.” I didn’t
understand what was so great about it until I watched it for a second time and
realized that it was actually a very well made film, it just has a very quirky
plot like most films by this director. Wanting to discover some more of these movies
I chose to explore the last three films that Wes Anderson directed: Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Unlike some directors, it is easy to distinguish Anderson’s
work from others because of his distinct styles. In most of his movies he uses
an anamorphic lens to create the panoramic look. Alex
Buono states on his blog that it is “a normal lens with an added front
element that squeezes the image 2:1, creating a tall, skinny distorted picture
that is later unsqueezed in post, becoming a widescreen image.” I have also noticed
among these three movies, the frequent use of tracking shots, flat space camera
moves, and snap zooms. For example, in the beginning of Moonrise Kingdom tracking shots are used to show what everyone in
the Bishop household is doing from room to room, ending with a snap zoom on
Suzy Bishop’s face. There are also a lot of bird’s eye view shots used
frequently throughout all three films. In Fantastic
Mr. Fox this technique is used to see Mr. Fox making the poisonous
blueberries to give to the beagles on their mission. It is also seen in The Grand Budapest Hotel giving us a
look at the hotel lobby from above.
There is no overlooking the fact that Wes Anderson likes to
use a limited color palette with each film he creates. These colors tend to be
repeated throughout his movies and stay on the more neutral side with the exception
of the pops of pastels. The Grand
Budapest Hotel uses pastels a lot in contrast with the dully-colored
backgrounds, making characters and objects stand out. For example, when lobby
boy, Zero and his love, Agatha, are in a truck full of brightly colored boxes
of pastries, the contrast in color makes them hard to miss. The biggest thing I
noticed within all three films was the continuous use of symmetry in every
scene. Anderson has a fascination with symmetry and almost always has the
character standing directly in the middle of the frame or two or more
characters evenly balanced. Most directors wouldn’t be able to pull this
technique off but Anderson has not only made it work, it is his signature.
All three of these movies are fast paced witty comedies
including more serious events and are centered on the themes of parental
abandonment, grief, and adultery. Family is also a key aspect in all of them,
seeming the more dysfunctional the better. It also caught my attention that the
protagonists in the movies, with the slight exception of The Grand Budapest Hotel, are not the people you would typically
root for. Mr. Fox is a criminal who broke a promise to his wife, doesn’t pay
attention to his son, and steals from people, yet we still are on his side the
entire movie as if he is the good guy. You don’t realize it until you actually
think about it because the movie makes you ignore your instincts. When in
reality you would probably be against him.
There are still so many techniques and styles I didn’t
mention that make Wes Anderson unique and set him apart from the other directors.
I can’t even imagine how long it would take to put together a film like one of
these, with everything that has to be made perfect for every scene, especially
an animated one like Fantastic Mr. Fox. I
honestly thought I wasn’t going to like that movie because it is animated and
the characters are wild animals, which seems to me like it would be a kids’
movie. I was proven wrong though. It was surprisingly funny and very well done
much like the other two films. After researching Wes Anderson and watching his
movies I definitely have a whole new respect for him and I’d say he’s up there
on my list of favorite directors.
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