Book Review: The Wes Anderson Collection

No, I haven't seen The Grand Budapest Hotel, yet—have you? I want to, I do. But no hurries or anything. We gots time, you and me.

Anyway, a cute boy gave me this book over the winter holiday, and I've been slowly reading my way through it. Written by famed critic Matt Zoller Seitz, The Wes Anderson Collection has a deep chapter on every one of Anderson's films—including chats with Wes about each movie (you'll learn SO much), as well as "previously unpublished photos, artwork, and ephemera." Tons of ephemera!

I especially love all the inspirations pages. I mean, yes—Max Fisher totally IS 80s-era Tom Cruisey and Charlie Brown-esque all at once. It's so obvious to me now.

Wes Anderson movies are fascinating things. They tend to always get better with time. And all of them are good. I'll try to pick a favorite and find that it's usually the one I've seen most recently. Right now, that's The Darjeeling Limited—it's like a perfect little poem about India (and existential confusion?).

The guy makes more than movies, though, he makes a mood—a landscape in which to showcase stuff like the hilarity of heartbreak and the futility of trying to control things. And I defy you to find a better representation of how kids are little beings with adult-sized emotions and no idea how to deal with them. Or how many (most) adults are big beings with life-sized emotions and no idea how to deal with them. It's all such good human stuff!