Malarkey

Do you know what it feels like to meet the cutest movie of 2013? You happen to watch it. At the end, you read the final credits, focus on every single person who participated in making the movie and you cannot but wonder how Ben even managed to make the movie in the first place. Because what you realize is that it’s actually his most normal, and also most honest movie, and all that makes it the best movie he’s ever been in. Every single character is out of this world. The beautiful Kristen Wiig delivers such a performance that you could simply kiss her. The Icelandic actor Ólafur Darri Ólafsson gets so hammered that you’d love to do the afternoon bender all over again sometime, even including all the bad stuff booze does to you… well and Sean Penn has a moment prepared for you that you should never ever forget. Movies are about dreaming, imagination and about what our lives should be like. But why couldn’t life be like that? Walter Mitty proves that nothing is impossible. He accomplished what we all just take aerial views of, contemplating how we could accomplish our goals. And yes, this movie is supported by both the incredible shots of unbelievable landscapes in Greenland and then in Iceland, and also by an awesome soundtrack that included Arcade Fire and Of Monsters and Men. Two amazing bands that will make you dream… and that will make you act. You simply need to find a way of your own…

Wes Anderson is a director with his own world. I’ve seen his world a few times before and I never liked it as much as I did in this movie. It may have been caused by the atmosphere of the Second World War, but I rather think it was the absurdity as such, that the director toys with in this war. It’s a bit like Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, only in the far more distinctive and positive style of the director, which I’ll probably never forget. And I have to admit, after watching this movie, I immediately have a reason to watch all his other movies I’ve seen before, but also the ones I haven’t seen yet. That’s how much The Grand Budapest Hotel affected me.

It never occurred to me that I would see such a great and well-made drama. This movie is also about music, but the focus lies on the story and the relationship between the two main protagonists. The young and talented Andrew, played in an exquisite way by Miles Teller, gets regular dressing down from the brutal conductor Terence Fletcher, who might be a bastard with the best catchphrases in this millennium. The comparison of J. K. Simmons’ role to those of other movie psychos, for example from Full Metal Jacket or Apocalypse Now, is really apt. You won’t believe until you watch this. And the hardest to believe will be the ending itself, which for me immediately became one of the most important and fundamental dramatic film endings I have ever seen. I stared at the screen and sweated for the actors. This was one of the most challenging films I've seen in a very long time... but it was worth it!

This movie is as if Nikola Tesla opened up one of his Pandora boxes. I wouldn’t have understood a single thing, but I would have been absolutely fascinated by it. And now if you excuse me, I think I may have to spend the rest of my life studying all available theories about the universe, black holes and fifth dimensions.

It’s actually quite a small-scale movie depicting a life of a very ordinary person who is a part of this world just like me or the person reading this review. In any case, the humanity that William H. Macy shot this movie with is making it completely unique. The music is absolutely amazing and Bully Crudup along with Miles Heizer are outright showing off. And the unexpected mini-roles performed by Laurence Fishburne or Macy himself are sure to bring you joy. Personally, I was happy to finally see someone order wheat beer in an American bar in an American movie. A big thumbs up for Billy Crudup; he gets that it’ll give you a better buzz than a classic Bud Light. And maybe he even likes the taste, but he didn’t really tell us. What he did tell us, however, was all about his life after his son’s death. And the final scene was a cherry on top that underlined his life up until that point. It was a joy to watch the tense ending. I’d compare it to Whiplash which made me lose sleep because of how full of emotions I was; it was the same here.