Through many trials and tribulations, we were able to secure only two tickets to the event, as it was in very high demand. Tickets sold out in less than a minute on both of the occasions they were sold. Originally, I was thinking that the usual posse in effect would be able to go, but with only two tickets I had to tell Stan I wanted my brother to come with instead. Stan is an excellent boyfriend, and understood why it was so important for us to go together.
Wes Anderson has this strange pull on my brother and I. The stories he tells, paired with the perfect selection of music he and Mark Mothersbaugh choose really speaks to us. The first Wes Anderson movie we went to see was The Royal Tenenbaums. My mom took us to see it. I was 13, my brother was 6 and our dad had just died. Our family doesn't do a whole lot of talking, or bonding, and when we attempt to, it sometimes (usually) just comes out rude as all hell instead of helpful. Its kind of a mind fuck to me that I find family to be so important after my dad died, yet I usually find myself avoiding my family at all costs. We are emotionally draining to each other, rude, unsympathetic, critical... the list goes on. But when we watch these movies, I feel like the way we are goes without saying, and that the small little nuances of emotion between the defunct characters on the screen are a mirror image of us. Its so strange, and very hard to explain, but after watching The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic especially, I feel like I understand us more... That maybe we understand us more.
They showed The Grand Budapest Hotel, and after the movie, we were told that anyone who wanted to ask a question could start a line behind one of two microphones they had set up at the front of the theater. We hopped in line right away, but lamentably, we were unable to ask our questions. Too many other idiots got in front of us and asked fucktard questions like, "What's your favorite Chicago baseball team?" To which Wes cleverly replied, "I'm going to alienate half of the room no matter what I say, so... No." (Heh. Shut that bitch up. But really, how stupid are you that you take your one opportunity to ask Wes fucking Anderson something and that's what comes out of your mouth?!) But one person did ask a question very similar to the one I had in mind, and that was awesome. Something to the effect of, why is there a common theme of failure and family issues in most of his movies? He replied saying that failure is something that we all experience and that you find out who you are and how good or bad others are around you when you're at your worst. That the simplest of kind gestures or words become the most poignant and moving in a situation where you've lost it all. I was really hoping that was what he was going to say because that's how I've always felt, that's how I've always related to his films. I bond to the characters that he creates because I've been there before, I know how it feels to be shit outta luck and hatin' myself... It's the Baker way.
I wish that my brother and I would have been able to talk to Wes directly, but it was cool that I pseudo got my question answered. We both wanted to let him know that in a family full of assholes, we really appreciate and bond over his work. That his movies are one of the few things that we all truly enjoy and don't fucking bicker over. And that when Royal Tenenbaum and Steve Zissou make amends with their estranged families in those movies, in a very strange and unspoken way, we do too.
As far as a movie review goes though, I am no Mr. Movie Phone or Rotten Tomatoes. The Grand Budapest Hotel was an amazing movie, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Mr. Anderson's films or just quirky movies in general. It has the same great feel that The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic had when I watched them for the first time. I don't want to ruin it for anyone, so all I'll say is it comes out March 7th and you should all go see the shit out of it and then get back to me and let me know if it moved any of you the way that it moved my brother and I.
(It was fucking freezing, and we were doing the Life Aquatic point toward the Music Box sign below.)
(There was a very talented old man groovin' on the organ until the movie started.)
(Just us being dorks.)
(The Main Man and his posse.)
