Sometimes when I'm watching a movie other movies will pop into my head. It's not a bad thing and I don't dwell on them very long. It's more like "oh...this movie is like this other movie." And so it was watching Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel which had moments that caused Steven Soderbergh's Kafka and the Coen Brothers' The Hudsucker Proxy to pop into my head (in addition to other Wes Anderson films of course).
A story told within a story being told, The Grand Budapest Hotel is about the friendship that develops between the hotel's Concierge (Ralph Fiennes) and the new Lobby Boy (Tony Rivolori in the scenes from the 1930s and F. Murray Abraham in the scenes from the 1960s). They get mixed up in the murder of a Dowager whom the Concierge had been sleeping with and lots of weird chaos ensues involving many colorful characters. To say anymore would ruin the fun of the film's story as it unfolds. It is funny and touching in places.
This may be my favorite Wes Anderson film to date. The story is engaging and highly entertaining. The cast is perfect from Fiennes as the Concierge who prides himself on giving the guests the exceptional service he believes they deserve to Rivolori as the Lobby Boy trying to keep up to Jeff Goldblum's weird nervous lawyer and Willem Dafoe's thug trying to tie up loose ends. Since I didn't see this in theaters, it took a bit to realize that Anderson and cinematographer Robert Yoeman shot the film using three different aspect ratios on purpose (instead of my initial confusion of wondering why we would have a pan and scan HD master in the 21st century). It helps give the three eras of the story three very distinct looks.
If you enjoy quirky original films (admittedly I'm not sure we needed the story being within a story of a story concept as maybe two layers would have been plenty), you should enjoy The Grand Budapest Hotel.
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