The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021)

I fully admit that Wes Anderson's films just aren't my bag. There is a smarmy detachment to them, a refusal to take their own stories to heart, that allows an icy "oh so what?" quality for those who don't want to seem to debase themselves with fandom. It's like they are too busy being clever to ever allow true feelings to infect the audience. We are to just marvel at the ironic wit and never let ourselves care too much. They are the cinematic defence mechanisms. They are films for the cool kids who look down their noses at the nerds and their provincial franchises. 

Sure they are visually stunning (even if the straight on camera style does get tired quickly), filled with the best casts pretentiousness can buy (now that Woody Allen has lost that pull), and the scripts are pithy and rapid fire so we don't have time to realize the emperor of these stories is wearing no clothes. I often find myself laughing but it's a hollow, unsatisfying laugh, the kind that won't trigger the same reaction on repeat viewings. 

I actually found The French Dispatch a bit of an easier pill to swallow than his more recent films like The Grand Budapest Hotel or Moonrise Kingdom, as this was a series of short stories, none of which had time to wear out their welcome. The thing about pithy shallow stories that are too cool for school is they don't hold my attention for long. These were blissfully short and I could just enjoy their ironic hilarity without having to focus on the fact they aren't about anything. There is a revolution story with nothing to revolt against, an artist with no passion, and a kidnapping with no threat. All of this is set in the French ville of Ennui (of course) and is there to get us to care about a dead publisher who we see on screen for mere minutes. Because again the point isn't to care...

So while The French Dispatch was still not really for me, it was tolerably cute through most of it and didn't overstay it's welcome. I still feel like when people try to sell me on Anderson's film it's like explaining a joke that's so funny because it's not funny kind of circular logic. But to each their own. 

The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun

Starring: well everyone...

Writer/Director: Wes Anderson