Der Schwan

The Swan.

A small brilliant boy is tormented by two large idiotic bullies.

First of all, I almost forgot it was a short movie until it finished !

I was fully involved in this magical story and the way it was presented that I'd call it lazy for not capturing what's happening and instead telling what's happening through beautiful frames.

It may look lazy but I know it must be even harder to make such as a thing, especially nowadays when you simply can make it normal, Wes Anderson is beyond that.

The production design was stunning as always and I enjoyed every minute of it, I need more of these colorful narratives by Wes.

A young boy, Peter Watson, is harassed and essentially kidnapped by two vicious, heartless, gun-armed bullies. Peter is intelligent and a keen studier of wildlife, especially birds. His torment is heightened when the bullies turn the aim of their gun on a beautiful swan.

Another of Wes Anderson's four-episode short story-series, all adaptations of Roald Dahl stories. The others in the series are The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Rat Catcher and Poison.

Wes Anderson adapting a Roald Dahl story seems a perfect combination: the clever innocence of Dahl's writing, Anderson's whimsical, stylised direction. It's been done before, to great effect; 'Fantastic Mr Fox' (2009) was brilliant.

Here it works too, with Dahl's emotional story of innocence-meets-thuggery set to Anderson's clever backdrops and special effects and imbued with the usual Anderson whimsicalness and child-like atmosphere. Rupert Friend is great as the narrator.

Not perfect though. The film seemed set up for a powerful ending but this never came, just fizzling out. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar was similar - great journey, lacklustre destination. Hopefully this isn't a characteristic of all these films.

A young boy relentlessly bullied by two older boys finally finds the strength to escape his tormentors. The pair of cruel older boys, who enjoy shooting songbirds in the hedgerow and ultimately kill the titular bird while it's nurturing its young are so repulsive that they drift into caricature (as perhaps was the intent, as they are figments of the narrator's memories). Like Anderson's other recent Dahl interpretations, 'The Swan' is a stagy, borderline surreal, meta-production that puts style far ahead of content. The cast is great, as is the intricate imagery, so I enjoyed the short despite the disagreeable and mean-spirited cruelty that permeates the story.

I didn't realize that this was coming out so soon after Henry Sugar.

Shorts are a great way for the casual observer to get acclimated to Wes Anderson without overwhelming the viewer. Production design and set decoration are typically cool and quirky. Rupert Friend gives a fun performance.

I wish The French Dispatch would have been released the same way that these Roald Dahl shorts are coming out. It's much more manageable. They can be collected into one bigger film but they stand alone very nicely. Wes Anderson is clearly a big fan of Dahl and takes great care to present the stories in a way that honors both story and author.

Interesting, engaging and calmer than I would've thought. Rupert Friend is wonderful since being in Homeland awhile ago, it's great that he's had multiple roles in Wes projects! I love this one superb scenery as always and quite well made! Only a little about a Swan. The field is great, writing is smooth, and these Wes shorts are complex a lot to take in. Not a lot needs to be said but I'll try a nice mix of southern, action, storytelling, and somber. Not sure how anyone could hate on Wes projects except Rat Catcher that one was very peculiar even most the movies are all fantastic pieces of cinema.