The French Dispatch

THE FRENCH DISPATCH

This long delayed film follows the last edition of The French Dispatch Magazine. Set in a fictional French City. 

Okay..it is Wes Anderson. As in the past you either get him or you do not. I get him.

Here we, the viewers, get to see the last articles written for The French Dispatch Magazine. 

So what we have here are three different stories:

1- Moses Rosenthaler( Benicio Del Toro) is a prisoner who paints using his muse, a guard named Simone (Lea Seydoux). This is the better of the three stories, with a lot of dry and slapstick humor. It almost makes fun of the art world.

2-The second story follows Zefferlli (Timothee Chalamet) who leads a group of uprising against the government. He gets help from reporter Lucinda Krementz (Frances McDormand), which is frowned upon by other protesters. 

3- The kidnapping of a government officials child and his relationship with a chef.

Like all of Anderson's movies it has many of his regulars popping up with small parts:

Bill Murray

Owen Wilson

Adrien Brody

Jason Schwartzman

Jeffery Wright

Christoph Waltz

William Dafoe 

Ed Norton

Saoirse Ronan

Tony Revolori

Just to name a few...

With some newbies like:

Elisabeth Moss

Henry Winkler

All three stories are not related. The only relationship they have is articles in The French Dispatch.

This gives the movie a chopped up feeling and makes the end feel flat. It does not peak at the end like in Budapest and Moonrise.

During my first view I thought he struck out here, but upon further viewing I felt like, he is saying a lot in small increments. The death of magazines; the absurdity of some protests; and what is value in art.

So not one of his best...but I still would give The French Dispatch 4 out of 5 stars. It is slow, and odd yet...it is Wes Anderson.

From The Shadows thanks again for your time.