The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun

Geronimo1967

Mar 27, 2022

7/10

I suppose like any newspaper or magazine upon which this compendium effort is based, there are some "articles" more interesting than others - and that's what this offers. Three elongated features form the centrepieces of this somewhat surreal comedy. As you might expect from Wes Anderson, these stories are eclectic, and delivered well by a cast that were well up for their tasks. My favourite of the three features Frances McDormand and Timothée Chalamet offering us some sort of Hemmingway-esque parody of revolution fought over a chess board - with quite humorous results. Humour is a strong feature of this film. I would say comedy, not so much. One has to pay attention to what is going on to get the best from the acting, the script and, as importantly, the imagery which effortlessly mixes monochrome and colour, and which is also bright, vivacious, and frequently just as informative as the dialogue. It does run out of steam at times, the themes could have been a little more compact, and the two side-stories - especially the travel report with Owen Wilson at the top of the film didn't work so well for me. I'm not an huge fan of eccentricity - it is all-too-often just hit or miss, but here we have more hits than not, and with a healthy swipe at journalistic values along the way, a bit of romance and some daft antics from a rogue Benicio del Toro, this is certainly worth watching.