jonni

I found myself, often, wearing a big cheesy grin. I laughed, I ogled, I marvelled. What a joyous feast of Anderson.

Elements of Oz, Welles, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edward Hopper and no doubt a miriad photographic visual influences I am unable to precisely identify; every still frame a masterpiece of thought and composition, every set piece a rolling fiesta of technique, vision, realisation and surrealisation.

All held loosely together with a confusing melange of plot trickery. Which is not a bad thing. Who needs engaging emotional empathy when life is always this beautiful? And interesting.

The bad points? Just the one. A little too often the witty and insightful dialogue is hurriedly thrown away in garbled, over delivered, breathless torrents. It feels as though had just a tiny bit more time and care been taken honing their delivery, I would have enjoyed it all the more.

Still a very rare 10/10 though for me, it's such a minor gripe.

I'm just overjoyed that people are still able to make art cinema like this, and still find a significant audience to appreciate and love it.

I really love this movie ... some of the set pieces are exquisitely timed and are truly very funny, Woody Harrelson is very good throughout and holds everything together well, Chris Parnell is at times hilarious, Gale Kaplan and Werner Herzog put in two brilliant top drawer comic cameos, and even Phil Gordon manages a good deadpan performance (much, much better than his poker?). There are plenty of other astutely drawn characters like Barry 'Sob Story', the 'Bust You Crew' and, need I say, Fred, Andy, Larry, Lainie and all the main characters are excellent.

What story lines there are may be a bit obvious, but they do effectively drive the comedy right through to the epilogue and outtakes - I mean, who criticises the plot of Airplane? Story is not what The Grand is about, it is about laughing at poker, people and poker people.

If you are a poker fan you should love this movie ... I am, so I can't comment if not ... perhaps you won't find it funny at all.

Even allowing for Eraserhead, Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart, this film probably features the best work of Frederick Elmes' life (Cinematography). The transitions from location to location are beautifully constructed; a series of intimate painterly portraits, introducing you to the vulnerable underbelly of each city. This also applies to the cut scenes between dialogue ... at times I was drooling! The characters are generally so well drawn that we can even forgive Winona Ryder's unconvincing tom-boy mechanic. Each twenty minute story is just long enough to engross and short enough to leave you happy that you didn't waste your time and you're ready for the next. And there's real comedy too ... farce, circus buffoonery and even belly laughs. I must admit, by the last story I did begin to tire a little of the format. It all finishes with not so subtle pathos (which I resisted) which highlights the unrelenting pain of life. Absolutely beautiful. Highly recommended.