The Artistry of Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach.

The Artistry of Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach.

By Matthew Wade Durham

Do you remember your first Anderson/ Baumbach film? Your likely reaction after the film was "That's it?" or "I don't get it" the criticism fly in of "pretentiousness" and "dragging" Neither negative adjective describes a single one of their films to me. These are two of the finest writer/ directors on the Hollywood scene to date. My first Wes Anderson film was The Royal Tenenbaums, co-wrote surprisingly by Owen Wilson. What did I think of Royal Tenenbaums at first? To be honest I was a bit skeptical. What is this movie? What is it about? What are the morals? The films follows the dysfunctional lives of a talented, yet forgotten family. The symmetry of Andersons angles, seemed to be conveying a dysfuntion itself, a dysfunction from the ordinary. Reflectin the personalities of the characters. What a dramatic premise, a dysfunctional family. This film doesn't end happily, it is unexpeting, unfairy tale like. I took a couple more views for me to realize the true genuis that is The Royal Tenenbaums. The movie stays with you weeks after you see it, not much with ambuguity but with the purpose behind every thing that happened. And the true moral behind the story.

The Royal Tenenbaums easily made its way to the top 10 film I have ever seen. I truly loved this film. One of the most artistic, risky takes on an interesting story I have ever seen. Anderson/ Baumbach specialize in one type of film, that is the character-study. We are given a main character, in Royal Tenenbaums case a series of main characters, all in which we realize they are in a way mentally unstable. My least favorite Anderson film is Bottle Rocket, still loved it though. It was his first film released in the 90's. It had a quirky premise completely set-up for cliche's but it drew the focus away from the silly plot to the characters played by brothers Owen and Luke Wilson. Luke Wilsons character having just escaped from a mental institution who falls in love, with Owen's character who seems to want everything one way. This kind of psychological film making is interesting on many levels. Anderson's next film would be one of his biggest and a nice 4.5/5 for me. Rushmore. Introducing the talented Jason Schwartzman in a teenage role as Max Fischer. This character reflects Catcher in the Rye's Holden Caulfield in many ways, the selfishness and the need to be the best is really interesting about this character. Unknowingly audience think this film is just about an asshole whiney teenager who falls for a teacher in a already done "Graduate" premise. There is much more to it. There is a lot going on in this movie, and this one actually does leave us with a little amiguity in the end. It is much more than your average romantic comedy. It is about a teenage character overcoming his selfish behavior. A very interesting film.

Anderson first worked with Baumbach on The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, where we followed an old oceanographer played by Bill Murray in a performance of a life time. Anderson's characterization rubs off on Baumbach as he helps him create not only a psychological masterpiece, but a visual masterpiece as well. This film, like The Royal Tenenbaums, is pure poetry. This was the worst reviewed of Wes Anderson's films, with a cast like this you can expect a laugh out loud quirky comedy, there is so much more to this film, the dramatic premise never over stays its welcome. Characters deal with grief, paranoia, deception, and revenge in many different ways. Maybe you thought this film had an identity crisis, the comedy simply lightened us up from the dark dark premise, not overwhelming us. A remarkable film. They also worked together on the screenplay for the recent 5/5 film for me Fantastic Mr. Fox one of the most clever comedies I have ever seen. The humor is beyond most peoples levels, maybe some walk into it not expecting it to be a comedy. But the dry wit in this film is priceless. To not think this film was funny, is to lack a sense of humor in all. If you don't find this film funny I don't want to see what kind of movies you do find funny. Also Anderson explored the texture and literal art of the film in his creation. A marvelous film for young and old.

Noah Baumbach branched out, after his horrible film Kicking and Screaming. Perhaps he learned a few things from Mr. Anderson on the set of Life Aquatic. The Squid and the Whale was also about a dysfunctional family. While it conveyd the dysfunction in a dark, comical, sophisticated manner. It lacked the art that was The Royal Tenenbaums. But to compare all dysfunctional film to the masterpiece would be rude of me. The Squid and the Whale was a character study that surrounded fantastic performances, Baumbach's script was simply genuis. Then ambiguous end to the film, was well done. People who didn't like this film, probably weren't entertained by the comical back-and-forth of these characters, for me I caught the comedy, it was dark, it was hilarious. Recently Baumbach did Greenberg. Where Ben Stiller plays Roger Greenberg in the performance of a life time. This character is riddled with problems, he is an asshole, he is judgemental, and he is other mental problems. Negative reviews say that it was bad cause they couldn't look up to a hero like that. He is not suppost to be a hero, he is suppost to be a person, a person with mental distress. There are other characters with dysfunction in this film, and it exposes the selflessness of Greenberg. The film is more or less about him accepting the realism of the life he never expected. Very entertaining indeed.

Unfortunately there are a lot of "haters" out there against these artists. They will probably never win awards for their writing/ directing. But in my book they are two of the best writer/directors to walk the face of the Earth in this generation.