★★★★☆  ·  Director: Wes Anderson  ·  Genre: Comedy / Adventure  ·  Runtime: 99 min  ·  Released: 2014

A World Unto Itself

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a confection — a film so meticulously designed and so precisely executed that watching it feels like stepping inside a beautiful music box. Set in a fictional European republic between the wars, it follows Gustave H., the legendary concierge of the Grand Budapest Hotel, and his young lobby boy Zero as they become embroiled in a murder mystery, a stolen painting and a frantic chase across a snowy mountain range.

Every Frame Is a Painting

Wes Anderson’s visual style has never been more fully realised than here. The symmetrical compositions, the pastel colour palette, the miniature sets and the rapid-fire dialogue all combine to create something completely unique in modern cinema. Ralph Fiennes is magnificent as Gustave — delivering one of the funniest and most charming performances of the decade with perfect comic timing.

More Than Just Style

Critics of Wes Anderson often argue that his films are style over substance — but The Grand Budapest Hotel proves that charge wrong. Beneath the whimsy and the perfectly dressed sets lies a genuinely moving meditation on loss, nostalgia and the end of a civilised world. The film won four Academy Awards including Best Production Design and Best Costume Design, and it was named one of the best films of the 2010s by numerous critics worldwide.

“There are still faint glimmers of civilisation left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity.”
— M. Gustave H., The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Mood: Perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon when you want something charming, funny and visually dazzling. Guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Source: Academy Awards official website · IMDb · Rotten Tomatoes (91%) · British Film Institute