Listings

Film

Wes Anderson Month

Date: 8 pm in March

Venue: LaBas Bar, Jiaodao kou Bei Santiao #34, Beijing

Price: Free entry

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) March 3

Stars: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Jude Law, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Bill Murray

The adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous hotel from the fictional Republic of Zubrowka between the first and second World Wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. Like the ship of 'The Life Aquatic' or the townhouse of 'The Royal Tenenbaums', 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' comes with its own ready-made theatre and uniformed cast. From here, Anderson breaks out with verve on to trains, ski runs and cobbled streets to spin a wickedly funny tale that celebrates the final glory days of a dying world order. It's all given a bombastic lift by an Alexandre Desplat score which crescendos in organs and drums. Full of Anderson's visual signatures－cameras that swerve, quick zooms, speedy montages－it's familiar in style, refreshing in tone and one of Anderson's very best films.

2. Moonrise Kingdom (2012) March 10

Straightaway you know you're in a film by content start Wes Anderson content_end: uid: Content-Artist-71013. 'Moonrise Kingdom' opens with the camera gracefully panning sideways through the cross-section of a suburban home in 1960s New England, stopping occasionally, like a train pulling into station after station, to spy on members the family. We may as well be peering into a retro doll's house－and we are the kids about to play with the toys inside. This is an adult film, really, of course, with all the pleasures of seeing content start Bruce Willis content_end: uid: Content-Artist-12745 as a soft-hearted local cop; briefly encountering Tilda Swinton as a uniformed care worker called Social Services; lapping up the ample Hank Williams on the soundtrack; and squirming at a school production of Benjamin Britten's 'Noye's Fludde'. But you can imagine 'Moonrise Kingdom' turning young kids on to cinema; it's so full of a joyous love for the medium and smart without being clever-clever. Its childishness, sense of innocence and eye for fun all make it a very easy film to love.

3. The Darjeeling Limited (2007) March 17

Wilson, Brody and Schwartzman are three brothers who embark on a journey through India a year after their father's death: they haven't seen each other since his funeral and Wilson, the older of the three and a dominating presence, hopes that a long train journey will bring them closer together as friends and as brothers. It's an Anderson movie from the off: the sound of The Kinks and the Stones mixed with the music of Satyajit Ray; the marriage of colour, costume and production-design to create a vivid but heightened impression of the real world; and, of course, the presence of Wilson and Bill Murray－even if Murray appears cryptically for only a few minutes as 'The Businessman' (most probably a reflection of the brothers' father). (2014)

4. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) March 24

With a plan to exact revenge on a mythical shark that killed his partner, oceanographer Steve Zissou rallies a crew that includes his estranged wife, a journalist, and a man who may or may not be his son.

5. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) March 31

An estranged family of former child prodigies reunites when their father announces he is terminally ill. It exists in a bubble－Anderson's New York doesn't exist and never did－but the rarefied atmosphere is a bit of a blind; what sneaks up on you is how, in his deliciously roundabout way, Anderson wears irony on his sleeve to camouflage a deeper sincerity. At its heart, this is a comedy of unrequited love, melancholy and disappointment. One to savour.