Back this week with Asteroid City, Wes Anderson brings us another singular vision, this time nodding to 1950s Americana – with everything from atom bombs to alien encounters and singing cowboys.
Ever since his 1996 debut Bottle Rocket, he’s been creating unique worlds, with heightened realities that nevertheless explore fundamental themes of love, family, success and failure. Here, then, is our ranking of Anderson’s films, from worst to best.
11) The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
Scripted by Anderson and his friend Noah Baumbach, director of The Squid and the Whale, this tale of a Jacques Cousteau-alike diver Steve Zissou is too obscure and remote to be truly enjoyed.
There are some fine individual moments, from Brazilian musician Seu Jorge’s songs to a touching deep-sea denouement. But overall, it’s a film less than the sum of its parts, despite a fine cast led by Bill Murray as Zissou.
One result for Anderson, who was less than happy with the way the shoot unfolded in Rome, was the decision to encourage the cast to live together on subsequent projects and foster greater camaraderie.
10) Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Briefly a boy scout, Anderson drew from childhood memories for Moonrise Kingdom, a film only fitfully satisfying. It’s a tween romance, ostensibly, between Suzy (Kara Hayward) and Sam (Jared Gilman), who has been under the tutelage of Edward Norton’s scout master.
Set in 1965 in New England, it’s a variation on the lovers-on-the-run trope, as Suzy and Sam go missing, causing consternation among the adults, including Suzy’s parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand) and the local cop (Bruce Willis). The artifice overpowers the emotion here, sadly.
9) The French Dispatch (2021)
Anderson’s tribute to the written word is again filled with the genius work of his regular production designer Adam Stockhausen, whose recreation of 1960s France is quite beautiful. But this anthology-style work, inspired by the world of the New Yorker and other literary publications, doesn’t quite come off.
True, it's immaculately made and burnished with Anderson’s usual humour, but the characters – led by Bill Murray as editor Arthur Howitzer – are more archetypes than actual people. Still, Timothee Chalamet as a protesting student is a joy to watch.
8) Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Anderson’s first foray into animation saw him take on Roald Dahl’s popular novel Fantastic Mr Fox. George Clooney voiced the title character in his usual raffish way, playing a fox who puts his family in danger when he moves into a new home and runs the risk of angering three very intolerant farmers.
Nominated for two Oscars, including Best Animated Feature, the handcrafted tactile nature of stop-motion feels tailor-made for a director like Anderson, who loves nothing better than showing you just how beautiful these worlds can be. It also marked his first time collaborating with composer Alexandre Desplat, although the end result is weak.
7) The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
Scripted between Anderson, Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman, this free-wheeling, spiritual ride follows three brothers (Schwartzman, Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody) as they go on a train-bound odyssey through India a year after their father's death.
Coming after 2004’s The Life Aquatic …, this was a further development of the Anderson precision-tooled style. Preceded by the short Hotel Chevalier, featuring Schwartzman and Natalie Portman, it’s also haunted by Peter Sarstedt’s wistful track Where Do You Go To My Lovely, lending the film a lovely nostalgic quality.
6) Bottle Rocket (1996)
This is where it all started. Anderson’s crime-caper debut was born out of a short he made in 1994, which screened at Sundance and led to producer James L Brooks backing the feature version. Shot in and around Anderson’s native Texas, Owen and Luke Wilson star as Anthony and Dignan, two friends who plan a series of heists.
This being an Anderson movie, it’s not replete with violence and swearing, but love and yearning. Even the appearance of The Godfather star James Caan, as Dignan’s criminal contact Abe Henry, doesn’t lean this away from the charming story of wayward friendship that it is.
5) Asteroid City (2023)
Wes Anderson’s eleventh feature saw a swelling of his rep company, with the likes of Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie and Hope Davis joining his regulars. A mix of backstage theatricals and an homage to 1950s B movies, Anderson and co-writer Roman Coppola spun this tale of a Junior Stargazer convention and an extraterrestrial encounter into one of his most emotional films.
This is largely thanks to Jason Schwartzman, who delivers his most significant Anderson role – as a widowed war photographer Augie – since The Darjeeling Limited. All wrapped up inside a behind-the-scenes peak at East Coast theatre players, it’s a typically kooky confection.
4) Isle of Dogs (2018)
Anderson’s second stop-motion animated feature is so out there – even for him. Set in the fictional futuristic Japanese city of Megasaki, it sees all dogs from the region banished to the not-so-lovely Trash Island after a canine flu spreads through the country.
Scored with booming Taiko drums, it’s a film in dialogue with Japanese cinema – notably the works of Akira Kurosawa and Studio Ghibli animation maestro Hayao Miyazaki. It also expanded Anderson’s ever-widening film family to include Greta Gerwig and Scarlett Johansson, who voices the show dog Nutmeg.
3) The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
The film where Anderson’s uniquely manicured aesthetic truly chimed with the mainstream, with a staggering $173 million box office making it his biggest hit by far.
Set in a fictional Eastern European country – Zubrowka – the literary inspiration came from the work of Austrian author Stefan Zweig, although Anderson truly made this his own.
Ralph Fiennes excels as hotelier M Gustave, but it was the deft interlocking of the various stories that truly thrills. Three Academy Award nominations followed – including Best Director (a first for Anderson) and Best Picture.
2) Rushmore (1998)
Anderson’s true breakthrough, Rushmore established two of the director’s greatest on-screen partnerships: Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray. The former plays Max Fischer, an overachieving high school student and budding playwright, who forms a friendship with Murray’s middle-aged businessman.
The film realigned Murray’s career (he’s been in every Anderson film since apart from Asteroid City) and immediately turned the spotlight on the director. And the moment that Max waltzes out in slow-mo to The Who’s A Quick One, While He’s Away is pure genius.
1) The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Anderson’s third film is surely his masterpiece. This J D Salinger-inspired tale of a dysfunctional New York family laid down style and themes that he would repeatedly return to, in a way that felt disarmingly fresh.
Gene Hackman, in one of his last great roles, is Royal Tenenbaum, the estranged father who returns to his family claiming he’s terminally ill.
His three grown-up children (Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson and Gwyneth Paltrow) have crashed and burnt since their youth, when they were revealed to each be hugely gifted. Anderson and co-writer Owen Wilson, who also co-stars, were nominated for an Oscar for their screenplay.
Asteroid City opens in UAE cinemas on August 24.
