Why Do Wes Anderson Movies Look Like That?
3,648,582
Published 2020-10-09
Wes Anderson's unique style has been the subject of many video essays, but in this video I wanted to take a look not just at the elements that make up that style but at why Anderson is drawn to those elements and the role they play in his storytelling.
References:
- Interview with Matt Zoller Seitz: • Matt Zoller Seitz, Lisa Rosman & Rich...
- The Darjeeling Limited Criterion Edition (With Commentary): amzn.to/36B0eaZ
- The Wes Anderson Collection: amzn.to/3lcuooY
- The Grand Budapest Hotel Edition: amzn.to/3cTXQNB
- David Bordwell on Planimetric Composition: www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2014/03/26/the-grand-bu…
- David Bordwell on Wes Anderson as a Brand: www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2014/07/20/moonrise-kin…
- Wes Anderson American Express Commercial: • Wes Anderson: American Express "My Li...
- David Lowery Short Film PIONEER: • PIONEER (2011) | dir. David Lowery
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Introduction
3:25 I. The Unreality of Flatness
6:35 II. Against Naturalism
9:05 III. "Well in this case literally."
14:12 IV. The New Sincerity of Wes Anderson
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All Comments (21)
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If you enjoyed this video here's a playlist with all my videos on Wes Anderson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=994Ez58kgjQ&list=PLXJ3434wIyxNjvSV0AkVOCLe6e-ZD6ZVq&index=1
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watching wes andersons movies feels to me like im reading a novel and imagining the story in my head
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Wes Anderson movies always look like dioramas to me. Things that could fit in a shoebox. And it makes everything feel hand made and touch-able, so you can more easily spot the craft.
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His colour grading is so unique, too. I think it's another "anti-naturalism" instrument in its pastel-like, selectively over-saturated approach. I love it.
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My friends and I noticed that Wes Anderson films also often have a general aesthetic in the setting. Rarely is a time period explicitly stated, and everything often has this vague air of semi-retro, 1970’s yet somehow also contemporary vibe to where it is virtually impossible to discern a date. We have lovingly dubbed this setting “Wes Anderland” whenever we see it, a timeless, surreal world filled with warm pastel colors where you feel like you are in a tableaux, but not entirely off put by that fact.
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Wes Anderson has ultimately decided that if you’re going to make a movie, you might as well make everything look as beautiful as possible. A move which I support.
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The thing that screams Wes Anderson to me is his colour choices. very rich colors contrasting with another, even if its could, it feels warm.
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Wes Anderson's style is flat out charming. His films are an escape. It feels like I'm a kid engulfed in a huge tale.
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Wes Anderson films always give me a sense of nostalgia for a community that I have never lived in.
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To be honest, I think that Wes Anderson should direct more Roald Dahl adaptations. Just imagine a Wes Anderson Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
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I always felt like Wes Anderson movies were paintings brought to life.
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They say actors are never supposed to look into the camera but that 70s show and Wes Anderson both did it perfectly
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It reminds me of Wallace and Grommit, how they have fingerprints on the clay. It's common to do it without leaving fingerprints, but if I remember right they decided it kinda didn't matter and people didn't really care if it did or didn't, and like Wes said it left the literal fingerprints of the artists on the work, making it more personal.
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I've always wondered why every single Wes Anderson film gives me a weird feeling when I watch them. A feeling that's hard to describe but it's kind of like I'm watching a fake movie. Or a movie within a movie. Or maybe even a movie made by somebody who has never seen a movie, but has done hours of research on what movies are with nothing but written word.
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When you mentioned that most people interested in filmmaking like his movies, I suddenly realised why. When you watch Wes Anderson movie, you can watch it as a story, but because of his shooting style and technique, it also works partialy as a documentary about making the very same movie you are watching. And that is very interesting to me.
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I have always thought the flat paneling feels almost as if we are looking into a doll house, always facing perpendicular to the walls. It does have that playful childness to it
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His movies are like reading a storybook, his characters are exaggerated and the settings are so beautiful yet so constructed I just love it all
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One of the many things I love about Wes Anderson films is the theatrical feel. I think this has to do with the mentioned "unreal flatness" which reminds me of the sets and backdrops found in plays and musicals.
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I've not even watched a whole Wes Anderson movie, but I know instantly when I'm looking at one. Every frame of his films looks like a painting that would be in a weird antique shop.
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His visual aesthetic really pairs well with the deadpan humor that characterizes the dialogue, sometimes in the most subtle way.
