100 All-Time Films (To see the entire list, click here)
Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Definitely, positively, absolutely the most controversial choice for this list. Can you really say The Royal Tenenbaums is an all-time movie? I completely understand all the reasons why it shouldn’t so allow me to make my case why I placed it on the list.
When the film came out, it had strange reviews. Some people really enjoyed it but most were befuddled by it. People agreed it was shot beautifully but it was hard to get past the dryness of the humor. Almost ten years have gone by and it has become more appreciated with time. I think it has a very important place in American history by being the masterpiece near the start of the American New Wave movement.
People will point out that Spike Jonze’s Being John Malkovich and even Wes Anderson’s Rushmore were before this film and seemed to echo the beginning of the movement. The directors behind these films seemed to follow the coattails of the independent movement that blossomed in the early 1990s and managed to wage an aesthetic campaign against imanginationless filmmakers. Whether you think there was actually a movement or not, Wes Anderson created a memorable portrait of a dysfunctional family with his star studded cast. Featuring Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller, Bill Murray, and Danny Glover, the film used the ensemble cast to its advantage without any one star taking over the film.
More than any other living director I can think of (except maybe Tim Burton), Wes Anderson creates his own world through the colorful and imaginative sets and his tone of acting he instills upon his actors. Shooting a comedy with such symmetry that is borderline Kubrick-like, Anderson has clearly defined his own style whether you like him or not. His films are beautiful.
I’m doing a little projecting with this film but I still think future generations will look at The Royal Tenenbaums with praise and will see its influence on films and other forms of media. I’m noticing it with films that have been released now and the previous ten years. It is an atypical comedy done in an original style that we probably haven’t seen since M*A*S*H*.
