My initial Wes Anderson film was ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ which I watched this year. How about that? It was a good experience. Wes Anderson is on a different level in terms of stylistic presence.
I had intended not to stop at that film. My next view was set on The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar by Wes Anderson. I had planned to watch the short film but then I heard about some of his inspirations and thought it would be interesting to learn what Anderson enjoys or is strived by.
He is explaining that there were originally Mary and her four Mary’s boys: And not a longer version with one of Anne’s cut scenes. I had to start in a circle. Each film individually due to no understanding that there’s a steamboat which would have been all spleens at once. All four of them were launched exactly the same month of September in the last year.
I shall be looking at the short film recommendations, but that will be a different post altogether so you should look out for that in case you are interested!
Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch) is an aristocrat who leads an unexciting life yet his thrills are gambling and living within casinos. He finds a book about Imdad Khan and Khan claims in the book he could see without opening his eyes. This leads story leads Henry Sugar to insight.
This was an absolute masterpiece! The story was enhanced in its telling thanks to the cast and the settings. I am aware that Wes Anderson is an American filmmaker, but this had a very British feel to it and it was amazing.
It was so much fun to feature Roald Dahl (notably portrayed by Ralph Fiennes) as a narrator and having various characters tell the story and also each act different characters was brilliant. The way they addressed the camera and how set and costume changes were incorporated to the story made it feel like a play.
Anyway, not that you can tell by looking at me, but just so important: Dev Patel is such a beautiful gorgeous man ♡
Peter Watson aka (Asa Jennings) is out birdwatching when he gets thrashed by two bullies, I repeat two bullies. The events of the day are narrated by Rupert Friend who never takes a break to allow his audience to forget about how the day played out. In the final moments we receive a bombshell conclusion from Roald Dahl in the voice of Ralph Fiennes.
The Swan is a stark contradiction to The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and I was not ready for this. I know that RTL doll is a pretty heavy writer, but I didn’t expect to be this robbed of my emotions and feel so sad over a simple short story at 10 in the morning.
In this movie, we are shown two men who hire the services of a rat catcher played by the actor Ralph Fiennes and it is painfully hilarious. This fellow has rat’s blood running in his veins , a peson who relishes what he does for a living.
Richard Ayoade’s narration is incredible (that guy is a genius). The presence of Ralph Fiennes is chilling. The set design is somewhat more restrained in this particular narrative, though it is appropriate given the subject matter. This seemed more of a horror movie…
Timber Woods (Dev Patel) sees Harry Pope (Benedict Cumberbatch) in bed and doesn’t move. Woods starts panicking, then notices a beautiful snake dozing under the blanket. He remembers the crazy time he had with Pope…
Later, Woods asks for assistance from Dr. Ganderbai (Ben Kingsley) who tries several biting methods to save the man from violent stabbing.
This one featured very good acting, and yet again, the set design was rather minimal, but the shot making/ shot composition was good. Looking at the pictures, I thought, what happened in the end, but, going for the first time through this short story, I was rather surprised by the conclusion. I questioned whether the happenings were some kind of disorder, with the racist outrage supplied by the medication’s part. The end was rather annoying and depressing, not because of the film, but that of the phenomenon of the ‘Englishman’.
For more movies visit like The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar on 123Movies.