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French dispatch runtime9/22/2023 And squandering Bob Balaban in any capacity is nigh unforgiveable. They are not dimensional characters conversing with each other - they are merely "characters" talking words at other "characters." Oh, and extra deductions for Anderson utterly wasting the talents of Henry Winkler and Bob Balaban - whose only contribution to 'Dispatch' is to appear in a handful of scenes with a frown. With the exception of Wright and Chalamet (who seem to be the only two actors doing any sort of acting) every other character moves and sounds flat, unenthusiastic and mechanical. But 'Dispatch' is Anderson putting his style over any substance. If only Anderson put as much care into his characters as he did with his interstitial miniatures, then 'Dispatch' would be a masterpiece. And, as if trying to distract with the film's lack of compelling drama, 'Dispatch' is a beautifully crafted and striking film. ![]() To the film's credit, each vignette has a fleeting moment of touching humanity - but this is little payoff considering the amount of pointless quirk the audience must endure to find a small nugget of sincere melancholy. The third vignette literally just has the article writer reciting his Dispatch story - recounting a kidnapping - word for word from memory. It's eloquently worded exposition - but exposition all the same. The film upfront tells the audience how 'Dispatch' is organized: three Dispatch articles brought to life bookended by a fourth story, the obituary for the Dispatch's editor and founder (played by Murray), whose character is basically defined by his editorial philosophy of "try to make it sound like you wrote it that way on purpose." Everything else about the editor is pure exposition: how he can to found the Dispatch and how he managed his motley crew of journalists. And ennui is ironically the perfect summation of 'Dispatch' as a whole - a boring tapestry of unrelated, listless vignettes dependent on bombastic plot drivers (civil unrest or kidnapping) to obscure cloying attempts at charm that make the film feel monotonously long, despite its relatively short 1 hour, 48 minute runtime. What, was 'Malaise' - a literal synonym for ennui also of French etymology - just too "nail on the head"? If Anderson made 'Rushmore' today, it would be set at a private school called the Privilege Academy in the town of Disaffected. Every Wes Anderson film can be described as having an undercurrent of ennui. 'Dispatch' is set in the fictional French city of Ennui - literally the French word for boredom or listlessness. ![]() And now, 10 films into the Wes Anderson filmography, the result is a film where the filmmaker's distinct style has eclipsed every other facet of 'The French Dispatch' to the point of becoming overbearing and off-putting. And each subsequent Wes Anderson film has gradually ratcheted up the Wes Anderson quirk little by little. ![]() ![]() Wes Anderson's early works - specifically 'Bottle Rocket' and 'Rushmore' - were grounded, human stories rooted firmly in their characters but told in Anderson's unique voice. Tilda Swinton, Benicio del Toro, Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet and Bill Murray star. In short: An anthology of stories published in the eponymous The French Dispatch, based in the fictional French city of Ennui. which was written and directed by (checks notes). Someone has created a gross parody of every Wes Anderson idiosyncrasy with the aggressively quirky comedic drama ' The French Dispatch' (in select theaters Oct.
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