The Budapest Hotel Review

The Grand Budapest Hotel
(2014)
Directed by Wes Anderson

Staring - Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Jude Law, and F. Murray Abraham
Comedy

Trailer

Supporting Cast - Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Broody, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Kaitel, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Rob Balaban, Fisher Stevens, Wallace Wolodarkky.

Story - A tale is told of a man named Gustave H, a famous concierge at a well known hotel from the fictional Republic of Zubrowka between the first and second World Wars, and of a young lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend and companion.

My personal thoughts:

Well… where do I begin? The cast… Holly cow there is a lot to go though, and in my opinion they all played their parts very well indeed.
Ralph Fiennes was an absolute delight to see as his role of Gustave H in this film. He plays a hard working man as well as a polite poet all at the same time, to me that takes a lot of work into a character so versatile.
Also I have to imagine the work it must of taken to get the other cast members together and some are quite top notch actors as well. I mean Bill Murray, Adrien Brody, Mathieu Amalric, wow even the cover of the BluRay I got should say it all.

But I am probably getting too ahead of myself with the cast, what about the story?

Inspired by the writings of:
Stefan Zweig

Story by:
Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness

Well The Grand Budapest Hotel is run by Gustave H, and he befriends a new employed Lobby Boy named Zero and together they are heard of a passing by a woman who Gustave H has had relations with in the past. They then find out her family owns one of the most expensive paintings in the world entitled "Boy With Apple", and in her will and testament she hands the painting over to him but her son is outraged and demands the painting go to him. So he presses charges on Gustave H for the murder of his mother and an epic struggle for survival to waged for Gustave H to clear his name and with the help of Zero steal "Boy With Apple".


I can't get enough of the fact that I have found a wonderful gem and now one of my top 10 films on my list. The comedic parts for me were hit spot on and the moment where Gustave H and Zero are chasing Willem Dafoe's charter down a giant snow hill was for me, a crack up, I couldn't stop laughing.

But what I love most about this film is that the way it was shot. In the beginning of the film it is in a wide screen modern day setting and when it comes to telling the tale of Gustave H the screen shortens and the film is shot in a classic sort of way meaning, less panning shots and more still shots signifying that this is the past.  To me, this is a great way to show the evolution in film and how it is made.

here are some examples:

Modern Day

The Past

For those who haven't scene this film I do encourage you to watch it, it is funny, light hearted at times and definitely up the ally for those with a dark sense of humour.

My rating for The Grand Budapest Hotel: 

9 / 10

For great characters and casting, a fantastic music score soundtrack by Alexandre Desplat, the beautiful Cinematography by Robert D. Yeoman and it is an adventure all the way though I just loved it.