The French Dispatch

Incredible cast, and Wes Anderson's style is always visually appealing, but the short stories that make up The French Dispatch fell flat for me. The attention to detail and sly references were great as a concept, but seemed overdone, to the detriment of evenness (or comprehension) in the plot and characters that I cared about. It needed a better script, one that was pruned down and had more heart. It was fantastic seeing all of these actors, though most are underused to say the least. Loved Jeffrey Wright in this though.

The French Dispatch is a French subsidiary of a Kansas newspaper. Every week it provides articles from renowned journalists. When the long-serving editor dies, as per his wishes The French Dispatch closes but not before a final edition. In it are four articles, details of which the film illustrates.

I generally enjoy Wes Anderson's films and have seen all of them with Rushmore, The Fantastic Mr Fox and The Royal Tenenbaums being my favourites. They tend to be quirkily funny but can be difficult to get into. With his recent films Anderson has also amped up the special effects and cinematography, making the films visually more stylish and art-like.

This is not a problem as long as the visual effects don't replace a good plot. With The French Dispatch, that's exactly where the problem lies.

We have a central story - the final edition of a newspaper - plus four sub-stories (the four articles) none of which prove to be very engaging. Things just happen, sometimes in very haphazard, random ways with no attempt to draw in the audience. While quirky, none of the stories are funny enough to make the film a comedy and carry it that way.

The cinematography and special effects are stunning but without a decent plot and level of engagement they're just nice-to-look-at images, bereft of meaning.

Also can't fault the cast which is heavily star-laden: Benicio Del Toro, Bill Murray (as always, for a Wes Anderson film), Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Lea Seydoux, Timothee Chalamet, Jeffrey Wright, Owen Wilson, Bob Balaban, Henry Winkler, Elisabeth Moss, Christoph Waltz, Alex Lawther, Liev Schreiber, Willem Dafoe, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman. Such is the saturation of stars that some only appear for 20 seconds or so!

Wes Anderson has made many films people have loved as well as many films people are baffled by and don't understand nor like. This isn't a complaint...it just IS what Anderson's films are like to the average viewer. However, some of his movies are clearly much more approachable than others. "The French Dispatch" is NOT one of the more approachable films...it clearly will appeal mostly to the hard-core Anderson freaks.

The film is broken down in to several stories that are interconnected by the same narrator. The first, about an insane modern artists and the sycophants who love his art--despite his multiple beheadings...which have gotten him locked up in a psychiatric prison. I think this is a very funny and insightful look at pretentious art lovers. The other stories also involve pretentious people but to me seem to have little in the way of payoff. The young revolutionary bit is mildly amusing and pokes fun of the 1960s young peoples' revolution in Paris and the kidnapping bit really left me cold.

The bottom line is that all the stories are surreal and just plain weird.... and I assume most people will like some and hate other portions of the film. So, I am not a fan of the story overall. But I was blown away by the cinematography, artisic sets and strange look of the film...this is probably THE reason to see the movie...not the plot itself. A great example is the scene showing the transition from a young demented artist to an older one...which was very clever. Overall, a film I didn't particularly like but I definitely respected.

I couldn't care. I just couldn't bring myself to care for anything that happens in this film or for any character who inhabits this story or for any actor who is a part of its ensemble or for any stylistic choices the director makes. A Wes Anderson film at first looked wonderfully quaint & quirky to me and I've given them the benefit of doubt over the years. But not anymore. This is it. His films are not for me.

The French Dispatch is a Wes Anderson film through n through. And I don't mean it in a good way. Like most of his works that I've seen so far, the visual aesthetic is no doubt appealing to the eye, it is beautifully shot, comes decorated with exquisite set pieces, and is steered by an ensemble of Hollywood A-listers. And just like most of his films, it is emotionally disconnected, tediously paced, and devoid of any flavours.

The story finds the American filmmaker in self-indulgent mode and he surely makes the most of it, thus resulting in a movie that's not only unbearable but also one that feels twice as long. Add to that, the oddball characters remain cold & distant, the nonsensical ramblings goes on forever yet never create any intrigue or interest, the laughs in store are few n far between and Alexandre Desplat's score only adds to the eccentricity.

Overall, The French Dispatch is one of the blandest films I've sat through and is arguably the worst film of the year for me, and certainly the most disappointing. Fans of the filmmaker will have a better time with it than I did and may even find it delightful & amusing. But for me, this was an absolute chore from start to finish that also affirmed what I've known for a while now. Wes Anderson films are simply not to my taste and I'm perfectly okay with that.

When one goes to a Wes Anderson film, we exactly know what to expect. In French Dispatch, Wes Anderson gives us everything we expect but he seems to have focused too much on aesthetics and less in the script. The film resembles like a spiritual sequel to Grand Budapest Hotel, but lacked it's strong characters and bullet speed screenplay.

The French Dispatch is an anthology about 3 segments in a newspaper set in a French town. Each story is something Wes Anderson has never done in his previous films, he tries to convey a political satire which often falls flat. A big star cast wasn't necessary for this film but it had it anyway and many top actors have been grossly under utilized.

The biggest plus of French Dispatch is that it has a spectacular production design, original score, cinematography and costumes. The aesthetics test has been passed in flying colours, probably the best we have seen in a Wes Anderson movie. On the first watch the movie rather feels like a letdown compared to his previous work but rewatches could boost it's legacy.