THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL - Oscar Movie Review Special
Usually, comedies get very little attention from the Academy for Oscar consideration. One might suppose Academy voters' mantra to be, “If it isn’t melodramatic, it can’t possibly be worthy of an an Oscar." Despite that, The Grand Budapest Hotel seems to be the exception to that rule. It is not only nominated for Best Picture, is up for an Oscar in the Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Makeup and Hair categories as well. This film is definitely 3M: part Mel Brooks, part Marx Bros., and part Monty Python. I found myself laughing a lot as I watched. It is absolutely madcap in places. This picture was shot in Germany, and was written and directed by American screenwriter/director Wes Anderson. It is loosely based on the writings of Austro-Hungarian author Stefan Zweig.
GBH begins with a young girl visiting the grave of “The Author” (Tom Wilkinson), a national hero in Zubrowka, a fictitious Alpine republic. She then opens a book by the Author, and starts reading. The book is a narrative of the Author’s stay at the Grand Budapest and his visit with the hotel’s mysterious owner, Zero Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham) in 1968, when the hotel is way past its prime. The younger version of “The Author,” interviewing the hotel owner, is played by Jude Law.
Ralph Fiennes stars in The Grand Budapest Hotel as its first, and very foul-mouthed concierge in 1932, Monsieur Gustave H, who does absolutely anything and everything for the monied hotel guests. One of these guests is 84-year-old Madame Céline Villeneuve Desgoffe und Taxis (Tilda Swinton), with whom he spends the night on her last visit to the hotel. Madame is fearing for her life, and is in sore need of comfort from Gustav, but the first thing out of his mouth when he sees her is that he is physically repulsed by her new color of nail polish. This is just one of the many comedic moments carried out with great aplomb by Fiennes. Madame dies under mysterious circumstances shortly after her liaison with Gustav. Her evil son, Dimitri (Adrien Brody), and his equally evil henchman, J.G. Jopling (Willem Dafoe), manage to frame Gustav for Madame's murder, and he is subsequently imprisoned. Gustav is aided and abetted in his antics, and also freed from prison by newly employed Lobby Boy, young Zero Moustafa, an orphaned war refugee, aptly portrayed by Tony Revolori, who draws his pencil mustache on his upper lip every morning.
Another of my favorite roles in GBH is feline-loving lawyer Deputy Kovacs, who fits Jeff Goldblum like a glove. Goldblum is the ultimate master of deadpan looks and throw away lines. I could not stop laughing when, with an incredulous lifting of the finger, Kovacs asks, “Did he just throw my cat out the window?”
My favorite thing about the piece was the myriad cameos by both European and American film stars. Actors love to have fun, so it’s as if they lined up and begged to be in this movie; Harvey Keitel, Mathieu Amalric, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, and Owen Wilson are part of the list.
Although I found myself guffawing all through this movie, I am rather on the fence about recommending it to just everybody. I have spent a good long time involved in journalism and show business, and so I am no prude, but in The Grand Budapest Hotel, there is a lot extremely foul, foul language, and strong verbal, albeit non-visual sexual content, which left me cringing a bit. The “R” in its rating most definitely stands for raunchy! In my view, most of this was patently unnecessary for carrying the story forward. It takes more creativity maybe, but great - and, I might add, hot and steamy - adult stories can be portrayed without the crutch of gutter-speak and graphic content. Be that as it may, this picture is funny, funny, funny! I hope it does well at the Oscars this Sunday! Anyhow, that’s the way I see it.