The Best? I’m torn between The Royal Tenenbaums and
Fantastic Mr. Fox. Before re-watching it this weekend, I would have said Mr.
Fox – animation suits Anderson’s sensibilities perfectly, and the
painstaking work involved in stop motion animation fits in with Anderson’s
obsessive attention to detail. Anderson has always been influenced by Roald Dahl – we’ve seen it most of his
previous films – and his adaptation of Dahl’s book is a perfect blending of the
two artists sensibilities. Oddly, the animated Fox family is among the most realistic
in any Anderson film. The marriage between the Fox’s is strained in ways that
seem real. It’s a stunner.
But re-watching The Royal Tenenbaums this weekend for the
first time in about 5 years reminded me of how great that film was – and surprised
me with how much it moved me –especially everything involving Ben Stiller’s
Chas – two moments in particular - the early moment of his son coming down from
the bunk bed to lay next to his father, to the late moment when Stiller finally
says something to his father without anger and hatred in his voice – “I’ve had
a rough year, dad” – both had me tearing up. Seeing the film for the first time
since becoming a father hit me much harder than it ever did before – and convinced
me it may well be Anderson’s masterpiece. Everything about that movie works just about perfectly. But check back again next week after
I’ve given Fantastic Mr. Fox another viewing – not to mention Rushmore which could
conceivably make a run as well (I'm not sure how many times I saw Rushmore as a teenager - 7 or 8 anyway - but it's been a while since I re-watched it). I really wouldn’t argue with anyone who chose
Moonrise Kingdom either – I loved it even more on second viewing this weekend
than I did when I saw it back in 2012.
As for Anderson’s worst, I first feel the need to say that
most directors – even great ones – would probably be happy if their worst films
were as good as Anderson’s worst ones. I’m torn again though – between Bottle
Rocket, which I’ve seen three or four times now and enjoy it every time I do
watch it (and will watch again this week) – because the film always slips from my
memory soon after watching it - with
very few things about it sticking with me at all – which is odd, because
Anderson’s films usually have many moments I never forget. The other one is The
Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – which is a film I’ve watched multiple times,
and just never quite loved as much as its defenders seem to. To me, The Life
Aquatic has always been the film that Anderson’s detractors claim ALL his films
are – empty style over substance, where all the deadpan delivery, meticulous
art direction and costume design, and hipster music is so ironic and detached
that nothing leaves an impression. Still, it’s one of the films I’m most looking
forward to revisiting – it’s been a long time since I have, and I keep hoping
that a subsequent viewing will let me in on what the films fans love about it
so much – and at the very least, The Life Aquatic looks amazing in pretty much
every frame, so it’s hardly a bad film. Who knows (SPOILER WARNING) maybe I’ll
finally feel something when Owen Wilson dies this time around – I’ve never felt
anything before because as with everything else in the movie it seems to
stylized that Anderson wasn’t concerned with the emotional content but how it
looked. Still, I don’t think I ever noticed the moment that Stiller’s son comes
down and lays next to his father in Tenenbaums before, and now it’s perhaps my
favorite moment in the film. Things change.
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