{"id":77625,"date":"2021-12-08T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=77625"},"modified":"2021-12-08T13:26:34","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T19:26:34","slug":"review-the-french-dispatch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2021\/12\/08\/review-the-french-dispatch\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: \u2018The French Dispatch\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Cate Manning | @catemanning<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/AXLlmCRtDCkw67--4CaFKQ4TCp4viST4pNGLOypL_rUc8GnlfUssRwpqglFn-MFbQdDfmuzoTSwgED39TUeMnoZNTseVvjJAWNfOdFDwisb8leOa-mIzsxXFOiIM7S07Id7dQJ3-\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A glimpse into the fictional town of Ennui-sur-Blas\u00e9 in Wes Anderson\u2019s \u201cThe French Dispatch.\u201d (Searchlight Pictures)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>A love letter to journalism? Not quite. Unless you count the opening shot of a printing press rolling or the frequent murmurings of \u201cjournalistic neutrality\u201d from Frances McDormand\u2019s character, Wes Anderson\u2019s latest isn\u2019t an origin story of The New Yorker. It\u2019s not a biopic of Harold Ross either, although Bill Murray\u2019s character is based on the famed editor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The film centers on a group of ex-pat journalists covering life in a small French town. Anderson brings the story of this little American newspaper supplement to life via anthologies; three stories (and the bookends) show life in Ennui-sur-Blas\u00e9, a fictional French town that\u2019s anything but its name. After regularly drawing inspiration from French cinema and culture, it was about time the director paid direct homage to France.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This familiar company of actors may be more signature to Anderson\u2019s films than his scrupulous visuals. Again, the director is joined by an all-star cast: Bill Murray, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Willem Dafoe, the list goes on. But there are also newbies like Jeffrey Wright, Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, and L\u00e9a Seydoux, who fall into Anderson\u2019s world with ease. And, like his actors, Anderson\u2019s stylistic motifs \u2014 subtle nostalgia, bright colors, meticulous framing \u2014 shine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The three stories, or \u201carticles,\u201d highlighted are part of the fictional publication\u2019s final edition. Anderson\u2019s characters find themselves in an insane asylum, a student protest, and a police officer\u2019s kitchen. Owen Wilson\u2019s Herbsaint Sazerac acquaints the audience with Ennui before the page turns and writer J.K.L. Berensen (Tilda Swinton) chronicles the relationship between an incarcerated artist (Benecio del Toro) and his muse (L\u00e9a Seydoux). A student protest turned \u201cChessboard Revolution,\u201d led by manifesto author Zeffirelli (Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet), is covered by reporter Lucinda Krementz (Frances McDormand). Then, in a television interview, Roebuck Wright (in a poignant performance by Jeffrey Wright) details his attendance at a private dinner prepared by a legendary chef (Stephen Park).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A common criticism of Anderson\u2019s films lies in his character writing. But, if you haven\u2019t picked up on this by now, the director focuses more on world-building than he does character development, and this movie is a perfect example of that. The characters may seem shallow, but the whole world of Ennui is endearing, not twee. While the family dynamic is not as direct as \u201cThe Royal Tenenbaums\u201d or \u201cThe Darjeeling Limited,\u201d the focus lies on a creative family: a newspaper editor and his writers, and the subjects and stories they come across.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The movie is hard to explain, and it would be pointless to pick it apart. At the core, it\u2019s Anderson pushing the limits of how far he can take his obsessions. But that is what makes this fast-paced \u2014 and sometimes over-stimulating \u2014 movie enjoyable. Like all Wes Anderson\u2019s work, \u201cThe French Dispatch\u201d shows the human experience through the eyes of its idiosyncratic director and his charming world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cate tells us about Wes Anderson&#8217;s newest film.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":77626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,15,8662],"tags":[8709],"class_list":["post-77625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-featured-on-kjhk","category-movie-reviews","tag-the-french-dispatch"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/20807072-443E-401C-B995-C7F4B2C8F8A2.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77625"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77640,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77625\/revisions\/77640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}