The Wes Anderson Analysis
There are filmmakers with a very recognizable style. So recognizable in fact that you need to watch only five minutes to know who has shot this film. Wes Anderson is one of those filmmakers. In 15 years Anderson has made five live-action films (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited), one animated film (Fantastic Mr. Fox) and two shorts (Bottle Rocket, upon which the feature film of the same name is based; and Hotel Chevalier - a prologue to The Darjeeling Limited). In this article I will try to summarize all the essential details that are constant throughout his work.
The Screenplay
If we look at the big picture, we can see that there are basically two themes explored in Anderson’s films. The first one is friendship; and it always comes along with some sort of a love triangle leading friends to fight about the girl (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou). The second theme is a dysfunctional family where each member has deep psychological issues, which results in quirky and often irrational characters. That is why in every picture there are a lot of strong leading and supporting personages and it is definitely one of the strongest points of Anderson’s films. It is the characters that drive the plot forward and generate a lot of hilarious situations. And that’s another strong feature - his sense of humour. All his films are so-called dramedies - a mix of comedy and drama. But there are no raunchy jokes which are so popular in modern American comedies. Instead his humour is much more subtle and even absurd.
“Jack: What did he say?
Peter: He said the train is lost.
Jack: How can a train be lost? It's on rails.”
That’s the big picture. But there are little recurring details as well. For instance, there are references to Jacques-Yves Cousteau in almost all of his films, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is an obvious homage to the famous explorer. Moreover, in every film main characters are in the water which is not just a decoration but also has a meaning. Water in his film is used to represent despair (Rushmore), journey (The Life Aquatic) or purification (The Darjeeling Limited). The same thing is about smoking. Anderson gives his characters a cigarette as a conversation starter (Rushmore), secret passion (The Royal Tenenbaums), bonding (The Darjeeling Limited). Even Fantastic Mr. Fox, which obviously is different from his usual work, has those features.
The Apparel
Wes Anderson is a very meticulous director. He knows exactly how every shot of his film should look and sound like. As a result his films feature some amazing scenes from aesthetic perspective. He likes very precise and balanced shots with a lot of props, and he always includes a shot of a book or a paper note while holding camera pointed to the ground. But perhaps, one of the most recognizable visual aspects of his film is a slow motion. With an exception of Fantastic Mr. Fox, every film has a beautifully made slow motion scene. Adrien Brody’s character slowly running towards the train in the beginning of The Darjeeling Limited is a perfect example of such a scene. And to make it even more artistic, Anderson uses very suitable music tracks. His flawless soundtracks always consists of different 60’s and 70’s songs by The Kinks, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones or The Who which only contributes to the distinct feel of his films.
The People
I like it a lot when a director uses the same actors in his films over and over again. Like Scorsese (who by the way is a big fan of Wes Anderson’s work) working with DeNiro in the past and DiCaprio in the recent years; or Tim Burton working with Johnny Depp. It makes their collaboration seem special. Wes Anderson has a certain ensemble of actors who are often working with him. Many of his films feature such actors as Angelica Huston, Bill Murray, Seymour Cassel or Jason Schwartzman. Moreover, it was Wes who returned Bill Murray to filmmaking after a string of Murray’s unsuccessful films. And it was Wes who introduced Jason Schwartzman (co-wrote The Darjeeling Limited), Luke Wilson and his long-time friend Owen Wilson (co-wrote Bottle Rocket, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums) to the world of acting.
The Ending
As you can see there is a lot of consistency in the films of Wes Anderson. Over the years he has developed a certain set of tools which I have tried to describe here. His films are his trainings where he gets to know his instruments thus making every next film better than previous while reaching for perfection. If you have seen at least one of his films and you liked it, then definitely check out his other work. But if you were not introduced to his films before then I would recommend starting with The Royal Tenenbaums.
The Screenplay
If we look at the big picture, we can see that there are basically two themes explored in Anderson’s films. The first one is friendship; and it always comes along with some sort of a love triangle leading friends to fight about the girl (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou). The second theme is a dysfunctional family where each member has deep psychological issues, which results in quirky and often irrational characters. That is why in every picture there are a lot of strong leading and supporting personages and it is definitely one of the strongest points of Anderson’s films. It is the characters that drive the plot forward and generate a lot of hilarious situations. And that’s another strong feature - his sense of humour. All his films are so-called dramedies - a mix of comedy and drama. But there are no raunchy jokes which are so popular in modern American comedies. Instead his humour is much more subtle and even absurd.
“Jack: What did he say?
Peter: He said the train is lost.
Jack: How can a train be lost? It's on rails.”
That’s the big picture. But there are little recurring details as well. For instance, there are references to Jacques-Yves Cousteau in almost all of his films, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is an obvious homage to the famous explorer. Moreover, in every film main characters are in the water which is not just a decoration but also has a meaning. Water in his film is used to represent despair (Rushmore), journey (The Life Aquatic) or purification (The Darjeeling Limited). The same thing is about smoking. Anderson gives his characters a cigarette as a conversation starter (Rushmore), secret passion (The Royal Tenenbaums), bonding (The Darjeeling Limited). Even Fantastic Mr. Fox, which obviously is different from his usual work, has those features.
The Apparel
Wes Anderson is a very meticulous director. He knows exactly how every shot of his film should look and sound like. As a result his films feature some amazing scenes from aesthetic perspective. He likes very precise and balanced shots with a lot of props, and he always includes a shot of a book or a paper note while holding camera pointed to the ground. But perhaps, one of the most recognizable visual aspects of his film is a slow motion. With an exception of Fantastic Mr. Fox, every film has a beautifully made slow motion scene. Adrien Brody’s character slowly running towards the train in the beginning of The Darjeeling Limited is a perfect example of such a scene. And to make it even more artistic, Anderson uses very suitable music tracks. His flawless soundtracks always consists of different 60’s and 70’s songs by The Kinks, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones or The Who which only contributes to the distinct feel of his films.
The People
I like it a lot when a director uses the same actors in his films over and over again. Like Scorsese (who by the way is a big fan of Wes Anderson’s work) working with DeNiro in the past and DiCaprio in the recent years; or Tim Burton working with Johnny Depp. It makes their collaboration seem special. Wes Anderson has a certain ensemble of actors who are often working with him. Many of his films feature such actors as Angelica Huston, Bill Murray, Seymour Cassel or Jason Schwartzman. Moreover, it was Wes who returned Bill Murray to filmmaking after a string of Murray’s unsuccessful films. And it was Wes who introduced Jason Schwartzman (co-wrote The Darjeeling Limited), Luke Wilson and his long-time friend Owen Wilson (co-wrote Bottle Rocket, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums) to the world of acting.
The Ending
As you can see there is a lot of consistency in the films of Wes Anderson. Over the years he has developed a certain set of tools which I have tried to describe here. His films are his trainings where he gets to know his instruments thus making every next film better than previous while reaching for perfection. If you have seen at least one of his films and you liked it, then definitely check out his other work. But if you were not introduced to his films before then I would recommend starting with The Royal Tenenbaums.