Friday, April 5, 2013

Wes Anderson


                                                         photo credit:http://wordpress.hotpress.com/screenlover/2012/05/24/wes-anderson-season-in-the-ifi-june-2-24/
When you watch certain movies you can tell who’s behind the camera, whether it’s the cinematography, dialogue, editing, or maybe even sound. This is definitely the case for American film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, and Academy Award winner, Wes Anderson. His name is echoed throughout many film buff’s mouths and folks, there’s definitely a reason why. I had the pleasure of being introduced to Anderson’s brilliance through his 2012 Academy Award winning movie for best screenplay movie, Moonrise Kingdom.

                                                                      photo credit:http://moonrise-kingdom-trailer.blogspot.com
Moonrise Kingdom takes you on a journey of two runaway children who plan a whole scheme to live together in solitude and happiness, escaping the world they know. In their desperate attempt to escape their impact on the world they so dreadfully want no part in is unmistakable. The relationships they hold, destroy, and create with their families, friends, camp counselors and even local police officers is an intriguing experience that takes you in and does not let you go. Anderson has this way of creating a whole new world through film. In Moonrise Kingdom these kids naiveté and goals are all completely believable. It is as if Anderson creates a peep hole to some alternate universe, one where nothing but the safety and love of these kids becomes priority to the viewer and the characters that revolve around them. Moonrise Kingdom received a fresh rating of 94% on rottentomatatoes.com and you can pick it up on blu ray now.


Like Moonrise Kingdom before it, The Royal Tenenbaums takes you into a whole new world, you get to peep into the life of the Tenenbaum family, an intriguing and complicated family (but then again who’s isn’t). What makes this such an “Anderson” film is the camera work. If you’ve watched any of his movies you might already know what I’m talking about. Anderson pans the camera like a mad man, by this I mean he moves the camera up, down, left, and right in a specific and purposeful manner. In The Royal Tenenbaums he pans in order to introduce the family moving the camera with no cutting to each level of the house. While this style is no trademark of Anderson he definitely uses it enough to call it his own. It is such a  specific thing to do that you can’t help but notice the shot. The Royal Tenenbaums received a fresh rating of 80% and with its star studded cast, you should definitely check it out.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a little different from Anderson’s portfolio as it is a full-length animated feature. In this stop motion epic featuring George Clooney and Meryl Streep the Fantastic Mr. Fox goes through dangerous and adventurous depths to provide for his family and the community at large. It is definitely tradition for Anderson to break the fourth wall in a quirky and informal kind of way. While it completely breaks the tension or mood of the scene it is necessary as he does this to inform the audience. In Fantastic Mr. Fox Anderson does this when introducing Mr. Fox’s three obstacles to a better life, he creates a kind of live portrait of these three farmers with all sorts of dangerous attitudes towards scavengers such as Mr. Fox. Fantastic Mr. Fox received a 93% on rottentomatoes.com and is an animated feature that has pixar worrying.

While we haven’t gone through every Wes Anderson movie we have analyzed a majority of his styles and what makes his movies special. He creates a story that brings you into a whole other world filled with interesting camera work and breaking of the fourth wall.

Who's your favorite director?

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