The Royal Tenenbaums (2002)

8/29/07

(Mostly New York City; 1970's and roughly contemporary)

I just finished this movie mere minutes ago and I must say I’m not yet sure what I think of it. This is my first Wes Anderson film you see, and while I’m aware of the director through reputation and a smart credit card commercial he did for the last Academy Awards, I’d had no real exposer to his work. I’d seen the first eight or so minutes of this movie on YouTube a few weeks ago and was impressed by its conceit, that it’s a sort of children’s book, a motifs that is made clear at the very beginning of the film, when we are shown said children’s book checked out of a library, and we hear the wonderful straight narration of the story, in stylistically simple proses, by the great Alice Baldwin.

The story concerns the family of Tenenbaum, a rich but dysfunctional New York City family whose three ‘genius’ children were a brief media sensation in the 1970's. Decades later all three children, played in there adult incarnations by Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Luke Wilson, are emotionally and psychologically damaged individuals. This is in part do to their father, a manipulative man of poor relational competence, who separated from there mother when there were just children. Now on the verge of economic destitution this Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackmen) comes back into their life fanning stomach cancer, but eventually discovers his emotional core and becomes a sort of nexus for the emotional rehabilitation of his family.

As I write these word and reflect I can already feel the movie coming together for me, though obviously a bit delayed. The story works, and the memorable visual composition, eclectic musical selection, and surreal straightness in which the whole thing is played, combines with the excellent cast performances to form what may be a sly little classic. I’m gonna enjoy sorting this one out in my mind.