The Grand Budapest Hotel

March 13, 2014

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With “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Wes Anderson, cinema’s master of deadpan, bittersweet whimsy, delivers his best film yet, crafting an epic that’s both about our world and tied to the unique world of his imagination. Though it’s set in the fictional land of Zubrowka, the multi-layered narrative is unmistakably evocative of Eastern European history, with the sober backdrop of brewing wars and cultural unrest offset by the zany antics of a hotelier and his confidant.

Out of a plot containing four threads that, together, span decades, the most prominent storyline concerns M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes), the cheeky manager of the titular institution, and Zero (Tony Revolori), Gustave’s new “lobby boy” and a classic example of straight-faced, Andersonian precocity. When Madame D. (Tilda Swinton), one of many older ladies Gustave beds, dies suddenly, the hotelier is framed for her murder, and he and Zero are soon embroiled in a cat-and-mouse adventure involving a painting, baked goods, a tattoo in the shape of Mexico and a downhill skiing chase worthy of “Looney Tunes.”

Anderson has made his name as a filmmaker of inimitably meticulous technique, creating pop-up-book movies wherein every frame is in its precious, calculated place. Aesthetically, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” is no different, and its mix of surgically precise photography and a grab bag of effects (miniatures, CGI, varying aspect ratios) provide all the eye candy the auteur’s fans crave.

But there’s more on the table this time. Be it in “The Royal Tenenbaums” or, most recently, “Moonrise Kingdom,” Anderson is adept at exploring human pathos, particularly when it pertains to youth; however, he’s never quite opened his heart like he does here. In addition to being uncommonly worldly, Anderson’s latest weaves, through stories being told to different listeners (an older Zero, played by F. Murray Abraham, shares his and Gustave’s hijinks with a writer played by Jude Law), an affecting abundance of romantic and paternal love spread across generations. His new film is about history, and, more importantly, what’s capable of surviving it.