This post will perhaps be the shortest yet, and maybe the shortest there will be. I spent a good chunk of today playing Kirby and the Forgotten Land, then what I originally intended to watch ended up becoming unavailable. Thus, I settled on The French Dispatch. (The other film was a Wes Anderson picture, too, so it worked out.)
Copy-Pasted Synopsis
“A love letter to journalists set in an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional twentieth century French city that brings to life a collection of stories published in ‘The French Dispatch Magazine’.” – IMDb
Actual Lazy Review
I’ll keep it relatively blunt: This is the worst Wes Anderson film thus far for me. Having seen five others besides this (including a couple in prior Marches), this doesn’t quite live up to the generally nice burst of entertainment his films provide. The reason? Lack of cohesion.
The French Dispatch is a story about stories, provided by journalists of a particular publication. Most are at least passable, though the first major scenario, involving a psychopathic artist, is by far the best of the bunch. From that point, unfortunately, it loses a lot of luster. Good performances and some neat execution of shots and scenes don’t really do much with what has always been an issue with Anderson films for me: emotional provocation.
A lot of common criticism I see of this particular piece is “Why should I care?” It’s easy to agree with them. These stories—almost entirely isolated from one another, only brought together by a single publication—are simply short stories put to screen without much of a common point. Why should you care? Because they’re interesting… I guess. It’s quirky and fun, but that tends to be a lot of what Anderson is. If that doesn’t appeal to you in explicit portions, this won’t be a riveting viewing.
Conclusion
Those fond of the style from this director will be all but assured to enjoy this. I, as a passive but endowed supporter, still found some worth to this… only in parts. The whole left a lot to be desired, especially when it seemed to peak so early. It won’t detract me from seeing future films… only there are better ones currently available.
Final Score: 6/10
The rating for all other films can be found at Letterboxd.
For more, check out the March of the Movies Archive!
Thank you for your time. Have a great timezone.
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