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msclaritea · 8 months

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‘The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar’: Wes Anderson’s Best Film in Years – Rolling Stone

The first of four featurettes adapting the works of Roald Dahl for Netflix, the Fantastic Mr. Fox filmmaker’s tribute to the eccentric author is short, sharp, and totally sublime

BY DAVID FEAR

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023 9:30AM EDT

Benedict Cumberbatch and Ralph Fiennes in 'The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.'

The golden rule is usually, “Show, don’t tell.” And Wes Anderson is a filmmaker who — judging by the overly meticulous mise-en-scène, the highly mannered methods of his storytelling, the obsessive curating and compulsive footnoting of onscreen bric-a-brac — seems to love the structure that comes with obeying unwritten rules. All the better to break them occasionally, of course, or to at least modify your parameters in a way that suits both the material and your signature. There’s a lot of the expected Westhetic going on in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, with enough symmetrical frames full of information and perfectly centered characters speaking as if their tongues were married to their cheeks. It’s undeniably his movie, brimming with a style so recognizable as to be easily parodied.

Except Anderson has put his visual template on the same level as the prose that his actors are reciting — not just dialogue, but actual prose — along with enough meta-theatrical tricks to make Bertolt Brecht go “whoa, chill out, dude.” Show, don’t read would seem to be the properly amended warning for our man Wes here. But here’s where things gets weird: All the artifice actually breathes life into Anderson’s vision of another author’s work, and somehow taps into something vital that’s been missing from his last few features. It’s basically an elaborate staged reading, it’s only 40 minutes long, and in terms of what Anderson does best, it’s damn near perfect.

That he’s adapting a short story by Roald Dahl, a writer who the Fantastic Mr. Fox filmmaker has worked wonders with before, helps things immensely. Anderson’s 2009 stop-motion-animation version of Dahl’s novel about a dapper fox and his friends remains a high point in his career, and ironically, one of the director’s more naturally humanistic movies; somehow, by removing real live people from his control-freak compositions and creating within an environment he could carefully calibrate to his content, it brought out something deeply emotional in his work. (Stop-motion was perfectly suited to his strengths as a fussy formalist, yet also somehow freed him up.)

There’s still the feeling that you’re watching an artist play with giant dollhouses — or, we guess, Dahl-houses — in this first of four shorts based on the author’s literary tidbits. But his embracing of a literal interpretation of the text, attributions and all, as well as doling this out in a single brief portion instead of part of an anthology, keeps things not just short but sharp. For all of its ragged shagginess, Dahl’s story is honed down to a fine point. Anderson pays homage by sticking to the script word for word.

“Henry Sugar was 41 years old, unmarried, and rich,” we’re told, by none other than Dahl (Ralph Fiennes) himself. Unlike today’s billionaires, Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch) is part of an aristocratic society of wastrels who are “not bad men, but they’re not good men, either. They’re simply part of the decoration.” Perusing the mansion’s bookshelves one afternoon, he spots a slim tome that details how an elderly gentleman named Imdad Khan (Sir Ben Kingsley) trained himself to “see without using his eyes.” The author of said book is one Dr. Z.Z. Chatterjee (Dev Patel) who, along with his fellow medical practitioner Dr. Marshall (Richard Ayoade), encountered this extraordinary person in Calcutta, whereupon he’d perfected the ability to read things while blindfolded, bandaged about the head, or otherwise vision-impaired. Khan recounts for them how a yogi (also Ayoade) once taught him to go beyond his senses; later, after becoming a sensation onstage as an illusionist, the old man passes away. Sugar, however, is determined to master the trick no matter how long it takes. Think of what a great gambler he’d be if he could identify every card without using his sight!

Dev Patel, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Richard Ayoade in ‘The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.’ COURTESY OF NETFLIX

In an interview with The New York Times, Anderson mentioned that he’d spent half a decade trying to figure out how to turn Henry Sugar into a film, and it wasn’t until he’d hit upon the notion of having the characters speak as if recounting Dahl’s story from the page — of essentially narrating their own story to the audience as it’s happening — that he’d solved the puzzle. It might be cheating in terms of maintaining a peculiar authorial voice in an adaptation, but it grounds everything specifically in Dahl’s storytelling. Anderson hasn’t given up his own singular voice in the process, mind you. He’s just figured out a way to harmonize with his subject.

And this is most assuredly a movie about storytelling, more so than the idle rich, the spiritually transcendent, and the illicit thrill of a busted blackjack hand. You see the stage hands move players on dolly tracks, and one-dimensional sets are moved in and out. Each of the name actors play multiple parts (and will apparently do so in the three other companion shorts; Anderson said he envisioned, Cumberbatch, Patel et al. as the equivalent of a rep theater troupe for the entire quartet). At one point, Benedict helps Sir Ben change his wig onscreen, and waits for him to come back into the frame. There are so many tales nestled inside of tales nestled inside of other tales that the only logical response is to think: Scheherazade wept.

Anderson also used variations of the peel-back-the-curtain approach and old-timey theatrical tropes in his other work this year: the ambitious yet curiously stale Asteroid City, which pings between a “play” involving stoic aliens, Fifties starlets and Cold War hawks and doves, and the Method-actor melodramatics fueling a TV production of said work. Here, however, the meta-tricks (including Dahl penning the fable-like tale from a detailed re-creation of his “writing hut”) enhance rather than distract or dilute what the filmmaker is aiming for. Thanks to the brief running time, it doesn’t wear out its welcome either. Henry Sugar simply comes in hot, winds its way through the agonies and ecstasies of Dahl’s eloquent sentences and elegant asides, then after a dozen set pieces or so, shows itself out. You can barely call it a movie. You can, however, recognize it as one of Wes Anderson‘s best attempts at transforming both his and his literary idol’s idiosyncrasies into something like art — and the most satisfying posthumous double act in ages.

#benedict cumberbatch #Dev Patel #Ben Kingsley #Ralph Fiennes #Wes Anderson #The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar #Roald Dahl

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sunshinequeer · 7 years

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I’m bored but don’t want to ask for requests in case I get too many so,,, have this

submission from @prettypettypansexual I would die for you, a thousand deaths

#this is beautiful and again i adore you #westhetic #submission

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lady-silver-hair · 5 years

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I. THE FAIRY. chipped nail polish. glitter highlight. tall trees with smooth bark. tangled hair. the taste of cinnamon sugar. talking too loud and too fast. overgrown flowers in your hair. crumbling buildings reclaimed by nature. flirting. walking home at 3am with no coat. platonic hand-holding. blowing smoke out of your nose. dragonfly wings. chaotic good. freckles. fairy rings. secret meetings. gender nonconformity. leather. smudged eyeliner. forbidden fruit.

II. THE REAPER. computer errors. a shiver down your spine. haunting beauty. hard liquor. crowns of thorns. shadowed alleyways. decaying plant matter. shattered mirrors and broken glass. corrupted memories. stopped clocks. the scent of stale cigarettes. tattered black hoodies. walking your friends home. the crescent moon. the sea. a graveyard on a foggy day. cold rings on cold fingers. absolution. looking out the window of an airplane. soft kisses.

III. THE WITCH. graffiti. pretending to know what you’re doing. worn paperback books. growing up too fast. parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. lace and combat boots. moth wings. candles on every surface. a weathered deck of cards. turning the music up. fireflies in jars. calloused fingers.drawing on your skin. sunlight filtering through clouds. petrichor. a dying rose in a jar. wearing a crystal pendant. illusions and spells. black cats. mint gum. chapped lips. dirt under your fingernails. the cycle of life and death.

IV. THE WOLF. murders of crows. frost-bitten leaves. wolves howling at midnight. knocking on your door. leaving food out for stray animals. the twang of an acoustic guitar. honey. tiny red buds on trees. claw marks on the walls. golden eyes. slightly too long stubble. sharp canines. soft, thick fur. hunger. a small cottage in the middle of the woods. knitted fingerless gloves. sleeping on the forest floor. always finding your way back home.

tagged by :: @selina-taylor

tagging :: @digitalfcte @miss-beautica @graceful-cure-swan

#))postables((#))aisthetic((#))westhetic((

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camnizphotos · 3 years

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@alysaballenger @cry-crybaby @austennobles @geazyatx @westhetics @champagne--feels

Ray-Ban Sunglasses

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graveyarddirt · 4 years

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This Season 2 finale is an uncensored, unedited, Witches & Wine-type episode, featuring two special co-hosts, Justin and Tianna! Topics discussed in this episode include: Wicca isn't ancient; the devil in witchcraft; variation with different traditions; types of witchcraft/magic (how witchcraft differs in other countries); magic and pop culture; the witchy westhetic; coven leader variations and generational issues (millennial coven leaders vs boomers); do you have to be female to really be a witch; coming from a bloodline of witches; do you have to be Wiccan to be a Witch; the "Rule of 3"; Gardnerian worship; and Witchcraft as a Cult.

#links #podcasts

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kinnieparty · 4 years

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omg seeing a fnaf focused kin blog is so wonderful!! if youre up to it, could you possibly do a moodboard for Vanny (fnaf)? (in my canon i was the protagonist of help wanted and felt manipulated by glitchtrap. i was also very emo/scene! thank you!!!!)

I hope I did ok!!!! IM NOT GOOD AT MOODBOARDS OR WESTHETICS LOL. BUT AGAIN I HOPE U LIKE THIS SOCRAZY SWAG!! HAVE AN AWESOME DAY VAMNY!!! Lmk if u need anything changed!

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maryellencarter · 5 years

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tagged by @aphorisnt

rules: answer 17 questions & tag 17 people you want to know better (I have not the brain to tag people and anyway since tumblrpocalypse the people I would usually tag are mostly gone, but if you want to do the thing, consider yourself tagged!)

nickname: I think of myself as JT more than by any other monicker. I'm still mad about losing that branding.

zodiac sign: Scorpio. Opinions vary on whether I am "the least Scorpio Scorpio ever" or whether I fit the category fairly well. Sexually confident and manipulative I am not. (Confident in general, still dubious. In touch with my dark side, okay, I will give you.)

height: 5'6", give or take

hogwarts house: Every quiz gives me a different answer, and I've never really clicked emotionally with any particular house. One of my supervisors at work decided I was a Ravenclaw, which I can definitely see. I poked at the @sortinghatchats system a while back, which puts you in *two* houses according to a system of their own, but I was doing me and Wes at the same time and all I really remember is that we were similar but different. I think one of us was... no, I can't remember, and I don't have time to rebuild the analysis at 3am on a work night. I *think* I was a Burned Ravenclaw Primary with Hufflepuff Secondary, or maybe the other way round, and I *think* Wes might have been a Burned Gryffindor or maybe a Burned Hufflepuff Primary? I remember we were both Burned (this is fundamentally the part of Wes I first glommed onto) and I'm pretty sure he was Ravenclaw Secondary but I wouldn't swear to it.

last thing i googled: "smallest count aida" apparently. I'm looking at poster-sized cross stitch patterns, and by poster-sized I mean we're talking 52x72" if I do it on 14ct so more of a tapestry really, and I don't have room for a tapestry in this apartment. I also don't actually have fifteen years to dedicate to making a cross stitch tapestry, but I was looking at potential smaller counts of aida cloth because I am dubious about the whole evenweave thing and specifically "you have to start on *this* side of a thread so the stitch doesn't roll underneath and stop being a stitch" thing. Apparently I could hypothetically get 22 count aida. Which would make it only a 46x33" tapestry, which is practically down to poster size if you think about it. Assuming I could *see* to work on 22 count aida; I really do need to schedule a fucking ophthalmologist appointment already, the whole diabetes-affects-your-eyes thing is being a thing.

song stuck in my head: I don't often get songs stuck in my head. I am not particularly auditory as a rule. Right now there is no song stuck in my head, only the twin whirs of the ceiling fan and the fridge.

following: 64 tumblrs, apparently. Most of these are more or less defunct, so I keep adding currently-active ones that catch my eye. Lot of cross stitch lately.

followers: 85. I used to have over 300 but there was the blog switch and then tumblrpocalypse and yeah. :P They're all apparently people, though. I keep on top of the pornbots pretty well. (Not like that. ;P)

amount of sleep i get: Not fucking enough. I need 9-10 hours a night and I get 5-7. You may notice that I'm up at 3am doing a meme. I suspect the depression, but I honestly haven't identified any underlying cause in a way that would allow me to fix the issue.

lucky numbers: I don't really have any that are "mine". My relationship to numbers isn't like that. I tend to think of 3 and 7, as being the classic medieval Christian lucky numbers.

dream job: That one tumblr post where you black out for forty hours a week and the paycheck shows up. I have absolutely no idea what I want to do that I am also able to do. My "passion" is geology, but that ship has sailed; I'm not physically capable of making a career in geology now, if I ever would have been. Or proofreading, but that hasn't been a livable wage for decades. Or spinster, like the kind that spins thread all day, but that went out with the Industrial Revolution. You see my dilemma? ;P

wearing: My skin. It's 3am, what do you want, fuzzy bunny pajamas? They don't make those for a 56" ass.

favorite songs: The Mary Ellen Carter. Most things from Pete Seeger. A selection of Raffi, The Monkees, and Johnny Cash. Probably some others I'm not thinking of right now.

instruments: I can play piano right-handed well or both-handed badly, recorder fairly well, guitar badly, and can make noises come out of a syrinx, which takes a certain level of skill. I also sing, loudly and sometimes very well.

random facts: Aphorisnt did a combination of random facts about themself and about the world. I, being sleepy, will provide you with only one, that I have been knitting for twenty years pretty continuously and that kind of scares me. (Huh. Maybe in another twenty years I'll be staring in awe and dismay at a similar mastery of cross stitch and finally take up quilting or naalbinding or something. Weaving, crochet, macrame, who knows.)

aesthetics: My phone was trying to autocorrect this to "Wes" until I got a ways into typing the word, and really that's pretty accurate. I have a sense of Westhetics. XD (My clothing is very utilitarian, jeans and solid-color t-shirts mostly, but you should see my apartment. If I ever catch up on the laundry again I'll post some more pictures, I'm pretty proud, even though right now I'm also in an obnoxious state of "NOTHING SPARKS JOY!" :P)

#meme #i was tagged #thank you

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helloyesitisme-uhhh · 4 years

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i just realized this is an aesthetic blog

#sexy beast #waesthetic #westhetic

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genderhexed · 7 years

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Yes come join the short hair club it's the best!!! i'm obsessed with mine (and also with your partner's hair, I feel like shaving mine now #westhetics)

hell yeah do it!!!

#bisexual-candyporn

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leaguesbottombitch · 7 years

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westhetics

tbh ziggs isn't even off meta, it's pick/ban in like 80% of my games in high diamond

I think thats the issue. I’m NOT in a good MMR rn. i know im in a bronze or low silver mmr rn because i havent finished placements and was low silver last season, So these people think ziggs bot doesnt work.

FFS I even organized a 3 way trade and made sure our comp could handle having a ziggs supp. we had an off tank and a full tank. we coulda MAYBE used a healer but my adc, my duo partner, and i synergize great with what we chose. We didn’t do BAD either. That was the downfall. We were ahead so the enemy started 4 man ganking, and ofc i cant protect from 4 people, its just the way the game is rn, and thats called good teamwork on the enemies part.

but 2 4man ganks put my power back and it made the guy so mad he did things like chase the enemy support past river into enemy jungle when the rest of us were near our inhib towers????

I just wish i could get these children to take a deep breath and clear their heads.

if he had warned me hed be so upset at it, i woulda went nami or lux instead! I’m not against working with my team but he waited until the end of the pick phase to start complaining.

im sorry im just venting and really frustrated, i probably sound like some low elo cry baby but im having a bad night all together and it just kinda pissed me off.

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mormcore · 8 years

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