Over the past 22 years, Wes Anderson has been nominated for eight Oscars. When he ultimately won on Sunday night, it was for the 39-minute live-action short film “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.”
For Anderson's fans, and his many, many, the fact that one of cinema's most original and popular directors won his first Academy Award for a short film is likely met with confusion, if not anger. You will be welcomed. He was overlooked for classics like “The Royal Tenenbaums'' and “Moonrise Kingdom,'' but he finally won at the film awards. short?
Seen through a different lens, or more precisely, through the jeweler's loupe through which Anderson habitually reconstructs the world, that perception could not be more apt. After all, Anderson's surprising debut, his 1996 Bottle Rocket, started out as a short story. And the cinematic language he continued to refine, with its stylized designs, symmetrical compositions, and subdued palettes, remained eminently well-suited to the format. Cinema's most scrupulous miniaturist, as shown in The Wonderful Tales of Henry Sugar, a captivating adaptation of Roald Dahl's short story featuring Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch and Dev Patel, , we couldn't have asked for a better introduction to this carefully crafted gift. .
Now, Anderson is releasing a live-action short film “Oscar” to a perfectly curated mantel that goes back to one-reel writers like Mack Sennett and Hal Roach, not to mention recent winners like Andrea Arnold. He is now part of a proud Hollywood lineage. Martin McDonagh and Riz Ahmed. Perhaps more meaningfully, Anderson shares an honor that has historically been associated with students and budding filmmakers rather than jaundiced professionals. I feel that's also spot on. If “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” is any indication, this kid has a future.