Wes Anderson is probably my least favorite film director who clearly has a lot to offer, but most of the time, his artistic offer falls flat for me. Unlike film directors that slowly fell from grace when it comes to my sensibilities, like for example, Christopher Nolan, Anderson’s work has been steadily disliked by me ever since Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums. However, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (based on a short story by Roald Dahl) is an outlier in that pattern and something of a small but truly - pun intended - wonderful cinematic experience.
In barely 40 minutes, Anderson uses a fantastic cast led by Benedict Cumberbatch as Henry Sugar, along with Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, and Ben Kingsley, to tell a violently granular but simple story. It revolves around Henry Sugar, who gradually develops supernatural abilities through meditation, all the while planning to use it for gambling purposes. In its short runtime, the film manages to stay both very Andrson-like but also connect the audience with its wacky, time-and-space disconnected, yet human characters. Thanks to that, I am once more comfortable in the pastel-colored temple of Wes Anderson and will venture in it willingly in the future as well.
In barely 40 minutes, Anderson uses a fantastic cast led by Benedict Cumberbatch as Henry Sugar, along with Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, and Ben Kingsley, to tell a violently granular but simple story. It revolves around Henry Sugar, who gradually develops supernatural abilities through meditation, all the while planning to use it for gambling purposes. In its short runtime, the film manages to stay both very Andrson-like but also connect the audience with its wacky, time-and-space disconnected, yet human characters. Thanks to that, I am once more comfortable in the pastel-colored temple of Wes Anderson and will venture in it willingly in the future as well.
