The Swan

This is another of the four part short collection of stories, presented on netflix, originally by roald dahl. This one is only eighteen minutes. About two no-goods who decide to torture a boy. It gets pretty dark, but it's mostly in words spoken by the narrator. Not a lot of blood and guts. Also starring ralph fiennes as dahl. With rupert friend. Lots of fast talking, which accompanies the amazing, short, advenure. Fun, clever sets. Some sadness, but according to the card at the end, it's partly based on an actual local news account. A bit darker than the others. Directed by wes anderson. And all over in eighteen minutes!

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.

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.

'The Swan (2023)' is perhaps the most stripped-back of Wes Anderson's four Roald Dahl shorts, with only one real major character and a more relaxed approach to the intricate stage-like design that each entry in this pseudo series makes distinct use of. It really feels like Rupert Friend is reading you a story - occasionally altering his pitch, timbre and accent to do the voices of the various characters - and, in its own way, feels strangely intimate. The story itself, although presented with a certain level of twee whimsy, is incredibly bleak and culminates with an ending that hits you like a truck. It's a case of tell more than show, but the aesthetic is specifically designed to accommodate this and it actually makes some moments feel potentially more potent than they would have in more traditional fare. It's a compelling effort overall that moves at a solid pace and has a tangible emotional impact that sneaks up on you but leaves you speechless as the credits roll.

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.