Day: May 4, 2014

Offbeat, charming, zany, macabre, intriguing, clever, hilarious: these are some words that rush to mind to describe this gem of a movie. This is a story about a complicated slice of twentieth-century European history and culture set in the fictitious and fantasy realm of the Republic of Zubrowka — a geographical reflection of the various Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and Soviet sensibilities between the two World Wars — in a hotel that has a personality all its own thanks in large part to its intriguing owner and a charismatic concierge.

The charismatic concierge, M. Gustave, portrayed by the brilliant Ralph Fiennes, is a thoroughly ridiculous man as much as he is “a glimmer of civilization in the barbaric slaughterhouse we know as humanity.” Elegant at all times in the service of his hotel guests be it in the act of arranging for their comfort in their rooms in more ways than one, or in the training of the new Lobby Boy, Fiennes is consummate in his accent and delivery.

There’s also no doubt that this is a quintessential and decidedly black comedy where fingers are severed, cats are tossed out of windows, and prison guards are dispatched with bloody abandon. That all such moments elicit more laughter than horror is a testament to the director, Wes Anderson’s unique style and direction.

“Budapest” is pretty much an old-fashioned screwball comedy dressed up in sophisticated garishness. Thanks to Fiennes, as well as a long list of other fine actors such as Jude Law, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Ed Norton, Tilda Swinton, and Fiennes’ protégé Zero (Tony Revolori), this is a goofy and eccentric joy-ride dripping with dry wit all along.

If a movie can be elegantly zany, this tale of a concierge, his protégé, and the murder of a countess, is it.