Favourite Film Review

 What is your favourite film?

This project involves a description and review of my favourite film - The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson.

My favourite film of all time would have to be narrowed down to The Grand Budapest Hotel, directed by Wes Anderson. The movie follows the owner of a high-class hotel recounting the years where he worked as the hotel’s lobby boy, alongside the owner at the time, back in the hotel’s prime in the 1930s. The main cast is made up of Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Saoirse Ronan, Tilda Swinton and Adrien Brody, along with many others. 

Growing up, I spent my family movie nights mainly enduring dull, lifeless movies that tended to fall flat, and that I just simply didn’t understand as a child - I didn’t exactly look forward to watching movies. That was up until a very defining, unexpected evening at the age of 10, when my sister suggested we watch a Wes Anderson film, and I’ll never be grateful enough to her for that suggestion. 

Once the film began and the first shot lit up the room, immediately I was entranced by the jarring bewitching visuals Anderson is so famously known for. The soft pinks and blues gently radiating comfort off the screen, I remember so distinctly thinking that it looked like I was peeking into a dollhouse. I was even more stunned once the narration began, it truly felt like I was being told a bedtime story that would send me off into a vivid dream of pastel pink landscapes. The narration doesn’t condescend you either, as I was initially thinking - the intelligent, charming and wholeheartedly hilarious writing is another exceptional strength of Anderson’s, particularly in this work of his, the beautifully arranged dialogue of this film compliments and matches the visuals perfectly.

Many would argue that Anderson’s work, especially this film, is another case of style-over-substance - I would argue otherwise. The intense and complex storylines add to the aggressively brain stimulating experience of this film, it is not an easy casual watch, in fact I’d say it’s actually harder to not be sucked into the carefully crafted story when it’s beauty is glaring at you from miles away, even from the tiniest screen. The cinematography draws you in, as it very clearly did with me, and then it masterfully charms you with the truly phenomenal writing, acting, and plot.

This film will forever remain as my favourite; it is the film that made me fall in love with cinema. 

The sheer difficulty I imagined filming it would be really interested me and had me wondering how I would do something similar, sending me off into an endless loophole of researching filmmaking and directing. Even a few years later, film directing remains my deepest passion and thinking about it gets my heart racing, almost all thanks to this masterpiece opening my eyes at that young age. Even a couple of years down the line when I began to lose hope over ever being able to achieve my dream job, and slowly falling out of love with the industry, rewatching this movie really got my headspace back into pure unfiltered joy and hope for my future, and I know my love and passion for film will always remain strong.

Trailer for The Grand Budapest Hotel: