The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
This is not "Rushmore," it's Rush-less...
This is not a Wes Anderson film, it's the Cliff
Notes for a Wes Anderson film. Cheeky, pretentious and
made from the upwardly-pointing nose of an established
cult director status , Anderson is just downright lazy
here, especially when it comes to the threadbare outline
that languishes as a supposed script. With his 3rd film,
the amazingly creative Texas filmmaker becomes little
more than film poseur.
It is literally an entire reel of 35mm film; that's
20 minutes, man; before two characters even converse
in "The Royal Tenenbaums." The first reel of this supposed
film is nothing more than elongated sections of character
establishing narration (by the annoyingly and pretentiously
voiced Alec Baldwin) with oh-so clever little Wes Anderson
visuals to make us ooh and ahh. And, yes, there's also
the opening credits sequence which again, establishes
character just like all the annoying narration has.
Anderson has bit off more than he can chew here. He
has a plethora of interesting characters yet cannot
concentrate on any one of them long enough to create
any sort of narrative or real drama. It's all just glossed
over short stories posing as plot. Granted, the characters
here are interesting, but Anderson does not create any
real story or dramatic tension here because he flip-flops
around on each one of his creations often denigrating
into flashback to explain what the character is feeling
in the supposed here and now.
This film needs to be about 6 hours to really be
satisfying. At 110 minutes, "The Royal Tenenbaums" is
as trite and as hollow as the pop songs that punctuate
it. Pretentious shit. Sure, it's easy to like the film.
The characters are cool. But I expected more. If you're
going to create so many amazing and interesting characters,
why not do something with them? It's like play time
for rich film freaks. Anderson and Owen Wilson, his
co-scripter, are so lazy here. They just seem to want
to have fun. It can be enjoyable to watch at times,
but it is never satisfying.
Sure, there are cool things. Gwyneth Paltrow, who
somehow plays the odd duck here, is always off to herself
when in a composed group shot. There a scene where someone
puts on a Rolling Stones record and a song plays in
the background. And then, just like in real life, theres
a space of silence between tracks and then the next
song on the Rolling Stones record ("Ruby Tuesday") starts.
There's a scene set in a closet full of board games
that looks really cool. Ben Stiller gives a performance
that is amazing in it's subtlety. But it all adds up
to naught. It's all pretty much pointless.
Nico songs are featured in the film because Anderson
wants to establish a New York feel. One of my young
male friends, who loved the film, bought a Nico CD after
seeing the film. He said, "I finally 'get' Nico." If
it takes Gwyneth Paltrow looking all wan with pasty
white make-up and tons of black mascara, getting off
a bus in slow-mo while "These Days" plays for someone
to finally 'get' Nico, at least the film accomplishes
something.
Yes Anderson makes wise music decisions. He allows
Devo frontman and recent movie score maven Mark Mothersbaugh
to do a score outside the realm of his normal bouncy
little animation tunes. Mothersbaugh creates a quirky,
rich and wonderfully delicious little score using a
regular orchestral ensemble. It's nice to see him working
outside his realm and he does awesome stuff with score
here.
Anderson has decided, rather than to make a real
film, he'll make exactly the film his fanatical little
college student fanboys want. He'll make a 110 minute
music video full of cool shots, beautifully sparse sets,
clever little props and actors posed in repose. This
isn't a film for viewers, it's a film for film students.
Anderson shows you how to compose shots, how to get
actors to look wan, how to get actors to shut up, how
to create characters that actors love, how to create
sets that look sparse, avant-garde and cool, how to
use the prop department, how to be creative with score
and pop song usage, how to use color, how to use sound,
how to film on location... But he doesn't create story
or drama or real film. The elements of film are used
to create a sort of visual panorama of what one presupposes
is a cool film. When all is said and done, it is little
more than cinematic incest.
It's kinda like if your kid drew a beautiful version
of "The Mona Lisa" in crayon on the living room wall.
You'd be amazed at how beautiful and interesting the
picture is. You'd think he was a artistic genius. But
you'd have to spank his ass for drawing it on the living
room wall, wouldn't you?
Here's a perfect example of what I'm talking about:
There's a scene in "The Royal Tenenbaums" where it snows.
The snow looks very, very fake - puffs of foam rubber
posing as snow. Perhaps Anderson was simply punctuating
the fact that he has made a film that is very, very
fake, very, very hollow. You can almost see him smirking
in the background, crouched by the fluff blowing machine,
smiling at his own luck. Pretentious git. Let me know
when your ready to stop fucking around and to stop posing.
Let me know when you're ready to make a real film.
Then again, this film is about failed geniuses...
Maybe Wes Anderson is brilliant after all...
Notes:
Also With Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray,
Danny Glover, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Seymour Cassel,
and Stephen Lea Sheppard (of "Freaks and Geeks").
Pop songs by Ramones, Vince Guaraldi, The Clash,
Bob Dylan, Elliot Smith, Nick Drake, The Velvet Underground.
The opening song is a cover of The Beatles "Hey Jude"
by Smith which is not included on the soundtrack. (With
Nico and Velvet Underground included, you can really
feel a John Cale influence in the film).
More
of Lodger's reviews indexed alphabetically! Just click
your favorite letter to go there.
a
b c
d e
f g
h i
j k
l m
n o
p q
r s
t u
v w
x y
z
HOME
|
