Category: Wes Anderson

The last time I saw Wes Anderson, seven years ago, he was wearing a tight, beige corduroy suit. He’s still wearing it today. On the previous occasion, though – a Q&A for his film The Royal Tenenbaums – it was accessorised with plastic-framed glasses and a preppy scarf. Now the glasses have gone, there’s a stripey tie, and the hair is longer and more luxuriant. He looks less geeky, as if he’s been spending more time outdoors. Does he go hiking in his corduroy suit, perhaps? “I rely on corduroy,” Anderson admits. “I’ve been here in London a week – this is all I’ve got.” It’s not the same suit, though, he stresses. “They last a couple of years. I have a guy who makes them specially for me. They’re very inexpensive and I can just call him up and say, ‘Can I have another one please?'”

More at Guardian.co.uk

From The Guardian:

The vision of rural England in the new animated Fantastic Mr Fox may be Buckinghamshire channelling Berkeley, but its sensibility is unmistakably British.

In Wes Anderson‘s reimagining of Roald Dahl‘s Fantastic Mr Fox, Badger – Fox’s closest friend and confidante – is as loyal and steadfast as he was in Dahl’s book. He’s also a fast-talking lawyer who specialises in property sales, able to advise Foxy when not to move den (“not with the rate at 9%”). Fox’s sidekick, Rickity the vole, waves around a titanium card and boasts about his good credit rating, while Fox’s nephew, Kristofferson, uses his downtime to meditate and do yoga.

That Anderson has left his paw print on Dahl’s work is undeniable. Rural England through his eyes is paradoxically urbane – Buckinghamshire channelling Berkeley. His animals check their mobiles for a signal and their wild nature at the door. His Fox is a showboater and fundamentally flawed father figure (just like Royal Tenenbaum or Steve Zissou), whose relationships with his wife and son are marred by incomprehension and frustration. What Dahl hinted at, Anderson has made plain.

Continue reading “Guardian Film Blog: “Wes Anderson’s urbane Mr Fox is truer to Roald Dahl than most””

On the day Where the Wild Things Are opens, a great little article over at The Atlantic on “scary” kids movies.

What’s more, while Anderson may be thought of as an auteur of hipness, Fantastic Mr. Fox in fact conveys a melancholy message (typical of several of his movies) that coolness is often a cover for great tragedy – whether an alienated family, an abandoned mentor, or, in this case, physical impairment and vulnerability. True, Mr. Fox is voiced by the epitome of smooth, George Clooney, but that doesn’t mean he’ll make it through the movie entirely whole…

Growing up is a form of loss that always makes for a bumpy ride—whether you’re making that terrifying trip among monsters, fleeing your town on boats made of outsized sandwich bread, doing battle with construction machinery, or even just attending a perfectly ordinary school. What matters in the end isn’t so much the fears you face during the journey, but the person you become along the way.

New York Times has a “Room for Debate” feature on this issue today. A little too surgical for my tastes.