Wes Anderson Tells Us What Makes His Films So Wes Anderson-y
Imitators (and AI-generated pantomimes) be damned: Wes Anderson is American cinema’s most inimitable, and irreplaceable, auteur, a director whose idiosyncratic personality permeates every one of his films’ immaculately symmetrical images, period-specific musical cues, and droll witticisms. So unique is Anderson’s signature aesthetic that it’s immediately recognizable, whether he’s working in live-action or, as in the case of 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox and 2018’s Isle of Dogs, in stop-motion animation.
Whimsical, humorous and infused with a bittersweet longing for love, family, and meaningful connection (to others and the world), Anderson’s comedic dramas are founts of sensory wonders, marked by pristine formal compositions, vibrant colors, retro pop songs, scrupulous production and costume design, and novelistic narrative and graphical flourishes. A genre unto himself, he’s that rarest and most priceless of things: a genuine original.
And his latest, Asteroid City (in theaters June 16) is one of his true masterpieces.