Wes Anderson : The Modern Auteur

Wesley Wales Anderson. One of cinema’s greatest masters of mise-en-scene. And, he is a world creator like Terence Malik, and David Lynch. And the most impressive part of it is – his distinctive style. Finding Wes Anderson’s movies quirky and obnoxious is never new. But what makes his oddball mix of characters enjoyable is his aesthetic cuneiform . His films have often been remarked as “overly precious paintings, inhabited by emasculated man children”.  

To be fair, his films , in their perceived simplicity, do invite an over simplified reading. But his aesthetic is deceptively lazy, and it takes a lot of work to make something look so straightforward. His first films, Bottle Rocket and Rushmore, do have some of the hallmarks, we associate with his works. But, speaking visually, the muted colours have no resemblance to say 2001’s The Royal Tenenbaums or the pastel palette of The Grand Budapest Hotel. What he manages to do is simplify things that are not : death, divorce, war, unrest. What Wes Anderson has, is a very special and rare talent, to convey the simple joys and interactions between people with an artistic richness, portraying them as the most exciting ones. With a rather eccentric sense of humour and unparalleled sense of aesthetic, his works never manage to not amuse us. Having an characteristic irony, he makes use of several lasting tunes from the 20^th century, instead of original underscoring, which gives his movies extremely upbeat .

But of course, not everyone gets rubbed by the shtick the right way. Even if you are not a fan of his works, we all have our own Wes Anderson: a film that will always come through with what we expect when we need it the most. Right now, what I need is a tete-a-tete with The Darjeeling Limited.