By now, we all know what we’re in for with Wes Anderson—that corduroy-clad American auteur of twee. He’s already assembled a solid squad of Hollywood cool kids and just keeps adding to it, bringing new actors into the fold of his distinctive brand of mid-century cool.
This time, the new additions to the mod squad are Timothée Chalamet, Elisabeth Moss, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Jeffrey Wright and Benicio Del Toro, alongside returning Anderson regulars Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe and Edward Norton.
Phew. They’re all together in The French Dispatch, a “love letter to journalists” which has finally arrived and is now playing in Australian cinemas.
Inspired by Anderson’s somewhat predictable love of The New Yorker, the film’s full title is The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun, stranding a small group of American journos in the remote outpost of a fictional French town called Ennui-sur-Blasé.
Over three storylines, we see 20th century Europe through the eyes of quirky American characters—perhaps making this a spiritual prequel of sorts to The Grand Budapest Hotel. As in that film, Tony Revelori is cast once more as the younger version of a pivotal main character (Del Toro in this case, F. Murray Abraham last time).
In fact, watching the typically fussy and beautifully designed trailer above, it seems like The French Dispatch might be a self-reflexive moment from Anderson: the story of a quirky administrator “assembling a team of…the best of his time” and sending them off onto strange storytelling journeys. “These were his people”, the narrator intones warmly.
At this point you should know whether you’re down for what Anderson and co. are meticulously serving up or not, but in case you’re unfamiliar, give The French Dispatch trailer a try and show up in cinemas this November to seal the deal.
