Damn you, that was my next pick, it's first Wes Anderson film I saw along with Rushmore, my favourite of his. Anderson gets accused of being cold but I never got that and this is probably his most emotional film, this despite Royal being, as you say, a massive prick (that scene at the end with Chas and Royal gets me). Though I think visually it's just as striking as his others, the clothes the characters wear, the house, and just how everything is delicately and deliberately placed. Killer soundtrack as well. By the way what's your favourite Wes Anderson film, presumably it's from this particular decade seeing as you didn't mention it?
Thinking about it, this decade probably has more of my favourite films more than any other - The Royal Tenenbaums, Let The Right One In, Where The Wild Things Are, In The Loop, Children of Men, Battle Royale are easily those I adore the most, not to mention other great films like Paprika, In Bruges, Inglorious Basterds, The Dark Knight and a few others that haven't been picked yet.
Oh, don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful-looking picture. The compositions, production design and camera work are all impeccable, but compared to some of his following movies (were every shot looks like a painting), the cinematography is less eye-popping maybe, more grounded.
I didn't want to say it, to save it for a future draft, but fuck it. It's The Grand Budapest Hotel. I think everything that Anderson had been working on and perfecting, came together for him in that movie. Very few times have I experienced such joy watching a movie, even though it has a pretty melancholic streak to it. The visuals, the performance, the story, they are all perfect. My face hurt from smiling like an idiot throughout the movie.
