dir. Wes Anderson – filmography rated (1996 – present)

Unexpected stories of whimsy and drollness, propped by their trademark air of melancholy – narratives whose imperfections (and imperfect characters) work against their visual symmetry and neatness. Sentimental and decadent “coolness” in every frame.

9. The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

8. Bottle Rocket (1996)

7. Isle of Dogs (2018)

6. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

5. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

4. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

3. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Anderson’s first stop-motion animation, later followed by the Silver Bear-winning Isle of Dogs (2018), is an ingenious adaptation of the classic Roald Dahl novel (of the same name). Every element of this children’s picture is weighed perfectly, not least the eccentric soundtrack and ensemble of character voices. Unusually, Anderson chose to record the voice work outside of a studio: “we went out in a forest, […] went in an attic, [and even] went in a stable.” Aardman-esque in its heart-warming inventiveness, Fantastic Mr. Fox is so much more than another piece of eye-candy in the Anderson oeuvre.

2. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Influenced by the sombre Americana of J.D. Salinger, The Royal Tenebaums chronicles the lives and careers of three siblings – played by Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson and Gwyneth Paltrow – who, in their individual ways, are each racked by disappointment after their childhood glory. Quietly devastating in its reach, Anderson never allows its quick-paced cinematography, or slight gestures of comedy, to overturn the genuine seriousness of the family affairs. Complex and idiosyncratic behaviours.

1. Rushmore (1998)

Holding closely to the memory of François Truffaut’s Les Quatre Cents Coups (1959) and Jules et Jim (1962), whilst also being wholly unique to itself, the story of Rushmore is at once a classic bildungsroman and again something else, a minor civil war of sorts. Often overlooked for the bolder and more extravagant later works, Rushmore is a small work of auteur genius – magisterial cameos (Bill Murray, for one) heighten the Wilson/Anderson duet, assuring its tragicomic proportions.

My personal favourite Wes Anderson film, for an abundance of reasons, and one certainly worth watching again.