Directed by Wes Anderson
(R)
***
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This mannered period caper might be Wes Anderson’s “most Wes Anderson–y film yet,” said Francesca Steele in The Independent (U.K.). Set in “a world all of its own” where the colors are surreal, the dialogue is deadpan, and Anderson regulars like Bill Murray and Owen Wilson show up in minor roles, it might be hopelessly twee if it weren’t also the director’s most crowd-pleasing effort. Ralph Fiennes “gives a glorious performance” as the eccentric concierge at a majestic hotel who beds countless dowager guests before one of them dies mysteriously and he has to outrun the law and an assassin to restore his name. Anderson, the director of Moonrise Kingdom and Fantastic Mr. Fox, has once again proved himself “one of our most reliable cinematic bringers of sensory delight,” said Dana Stevens in Slate.com. But he’s set this tale in a 1930s Europe about to be destroyed by war, and his quirky style doesn’t suit the dark milieu. Still, the film’s “campy ingenuousness” has strategic narrative purpose, said David Edelstein in New York magazine. It leaves you unprepared for “the final emotional wallop.”
