Plot: A film about a little newspaper publication and the peculiar writers who spend their time there. Anderson uses the wraparound segment to introduce the various people working for the publication, while mapping the structure of his anthology onto that of the distribution itself, starting off with an introductory short and following up with the three main courses. It sounds more intricate than it is though. While Anderson made a big effort to dress things up, it's really just a basic anthology with four shorts
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November 15, 2021
This feels like the last film in a cycle. The French Dispatch is pure, unfiltered Wes Anderson, probably at his most aesthetic and precise. At the same time, it's difficult to image what else Anderson can do with this style, as it did get a little repetitive over time. The insane pacing and different stories eat up a lot of energy, still, by the end it felt like Anderson didn't bring quite enough. It's a pretty uneven film that starts to fray once you look too closely at individual elements, on the other hand there's no one else like Anderson and the film is full-on cinematic fun. Not his best work, but if you love Anderson, it's almost impossible not to love this film.