The Grand Budapest Hotel

Released 7th March 2014, The Grand Budapest Hotel tells the story of Zero; an old lobby boy of the esteemed Grand Budapest Hotel. While the film does confront ideas of loneliness and unity through a couple of characters, the film is not particularly deep in its messaging; instead, it connotes these ideas with a very laissez-faire attitude. The film achieves this to the credit of the striking cinematography where every frame’s a painting; from the perfect symmetry of scenes to the dual narratives playing out in a shot, you will be guaranteed something to be visually drawn to. There is also a lot of humour, however, there are not any active jokes in the film; they are all a product of perfect delivery and the aforementioned visual storytelling.

While F. Murray Abraham brings life to Zero exogenous of the frame narrative, Tony Revolori embodies him for the majority of the narrative. Both do a fantastic job at presenting this character at contrasting points in his life. Whereas Abraham tells a more aged and isolated Zero, Revolori is a younger, inexperienced Zero who is the lobby boy to Ralph Fienne’s M. Gustave. M. Gustave is the concierge of the Grand Budapest Hotel at the time of Zero being lobby boy. Fiennes manages to illustrate Gustave with a perfected sophistication and chivalry towards everyone and everything he interacts with; he is very much the archetype of a good man from a long-gone age of his ideals. Besides the two protagonists, there is a large expansive cast of the film which feels completely perfect; the cast includes names such as Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Saoirse Ronan, Jude Law, Willem Dafoe and Edward Norton.

As previously stated, the most attractive part of the film is its expressive visuals; these visuals make use of bold lighting and colours in its production design and costuming which help to distinguish characters and settings with complete ease. Stop-motion animation is also applied to various scenes which enhance the visual artistry achieved by the production design. Even the soundtrack is enthralling with it’s regional symphonics and motifs for certain characters. If I had anything negative to say about the film, it would be that its laid back nature sometimes makes several moments abrupt and that the frame narrative is not fully realised. Overall, The Grand Budapest Hotel may not have the richest characters or story, however, the culmination of literally everything else makes it an unattainable experience for any other film to encapsulate.