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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

The Royal Tenenbaums [SPOILERS]

  
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
14:17 / 21.03.02
I'm sure there was an old thread about this, but I can't find it... Anyway, last night I saw this for the second time, and I have to say, it's fast becoming one of my favourite movies ever... I know it's the biggest cliche to say that a film makes you laugh and makes you cry, but I honestly cannot think of another film in recent memory that has both made me laugh out loud and come close to crying (I don't cry in films, ever, but the bit where Royal tells Richie he wishes he could have been a better father, and the bit where Chas says "I've had a rough year, dad" - both of these bring me as close as I get, on the verge of tears).

What else? Well, obviously, it's visually stunning. There's something new to notice each time you watch it. It's full of subtle little touches, like the way that Eli Cash's transformation from shy bookworm to swaggering, drug-addled cowboy wannabe is hinted to be a result of his affair with Margot - which in turn is only a result of his (commercial) literary success.

The use of music throughout is exemplary: from the moment when young Richie shouts "go, Mordecai!", releases the hawk, and the thus-far instrumental cover of 'Hey Jude' launches into the "na, na na, na na na na" bit as the bird circles the rooftops; the hilarious and drop-dead-cool Ramones/Margot's casefile sequence; the traumatic use of Elliot Smith's 'Needle In The Hay' for the wrist-slashing scene; the way that when Margot puts a Rolling Stones song on the record player when she's in the tent with Richie, it carries on to the start of the next song after one ends (and in the process almost makes me like 'Ruby Tuesday'); the Nico/Van Morrison double whammy for the funeral at the film's end. It's that rarest of things: a film that makes you want to rush out and buy the soundtrack.

And obviously I have a newfound respect for Alec Baldwin and Gwyneth Paltrow, whilst my respect my Gene Hackman has only increased...

Honestly, I could go on and on about this film, but I'll let someone else have a go...

"Wildcat. W-i--i-i-i-ldcat..."
 
 
deja_vroom
14:23 / 21.03.02
Tried to find the old thread, too. I was thinking about watching it today, but was about to give up cos I'm really short of money...
What the hell, now of course I'll leave work and go straight to a cinema to see it... Will comment on it tomorrow.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
14:48 / 21.03.02
Head on over here for Wes Anderson goodness, y'all.
 
 
The Natural Way
12:25 / 09.12.02
Yes! Now Flyboy, YES! On the money!

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better than Bill Murray being told to pull his head out of his ass by a coupla ginger youngcocks along comes this....this....sheer excellence! Yes!

That fucking scene - the one where Royal drops the big one on Etheline, telling her he's got cancer. And then taking it back. And then... - That fucking scene should not BE funny, but it is. It's so funny and sad and wrong and funny. Anderson juggles this stuff brilliantly.

"Could you stop doing this, Chas?"

"Why?"

"Because you're HURTING ME!"

The way that man delivers his lines. Go, Hackman! Go!

Those bloody paintings on Eli's wall. Fantastic. What. The. Fuck.

And, yes, the opening sequence and "I've had a rough year, Dad."

And the way Margot and Ritchie are so tentative and nervous about touching each other, but totally consumed by the need to do so.

He hardly moves the camera, does he? It's all tableaus. Mmmm. Nice tableaus. His framing's perfect.

Can't believe I fucked about for so long before seeing this film. I love Rushmore - it gives me the sex - so what was I doing?
 
 
Gary Lactus
18:01 / 09.12.02
Bah, I didn't think the characters were developed enough. Too many of them, not enough time maybe. Still, it's a great film and worth at least a couple of viewings. Has anyone seen "Bottle Rocket"? Apparently this was his first film. An ex girlfriend spunked on and on about it but I can't find it anywhere.
 
 
The Natural Way
10:04 / 10.12.02
But that's what I like - the way you have to infer so much. Yr not fed a whole character - you get a snippet of them at a certain time in their life. But, somehow, somewhere between the performance and the script, the characters just come to life, and I don't think it's a life purely based on funny quirks... Will grow my beard a bit more, have a think and post again later....
 
 
The Natural Way
10:06 / 10.12.02
And there's a thread on Bottle Rocket and stuff. Do a search, lazy Gimbert.
 
 
Cloudhands
13:00 / 13.12.02
the Richie and Margot love thing is what I like best about this film. It's so understated and romantic, is it a bit Freudian?, like they're brother and sister, but yet, it's okay because she was adopted.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
19:00 / 18.05.03
Bloody good lord in hell.

I think this is my favourite film ever. I just got it out from the library again and I've watched it far too many times and I find it so depressing because I wish I could have written/made it, but I love it far too much to feel bad about that.

I don't think anyone else I know understands why I like it so much, but I think I could fall in love with any one line of dialogue in this film.

Just had to get that off my chest. Possibly, I've gone too far in my throes of enthusiasm, but still.
 
 
arcboi
20:10 / 18.05.03
I first saw this as the in-flight movie whilst US-bound last year. Excellent stuff indeed.

I also managed to pick up the DVD this week - anyone in the UK passing a Virgin shop will note it's in the pile where you can get 5 DVD's for £30 (if anyone's interested, I also picked up Withnail And I, Eyes Wide Shut, Mighty Aphrodite and the Brasseye collection).
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
22:31 / 19.05.03
"Everybody knows that Custer died at Little Bighorn. What this book presupposes is... maybe he didn't?"
 
 
The Puck
22:18 / 25.02.04
i just have to resurrect this thread and urge anyone who has been putting off seeing this film to make time to do so, ive just got round to watching it. and oh my dirty gods its good. really good.

spoilers




















its really fucking good.
 
 
FreeClee
23:49 / 05.04.04
I liked the movie although it wasn't one of my all-time faves. Did anyone else notice the similarities between the Tenenbaums' family and Salinger's Glass Family? ( I'm talkin' Franny & Zooey. ) Wes Anderson has admitted to the likeness himself.
--Family of young geniuses on a talk show/radio show.
--The very New York upbringing.
--The slightly insane daughter (Franny/Margot).
Just the overall tone of the movie reminds me of F&Z. The book wasn't one of my favorites--Tenenbaums are much better, but hey, its a classic & I love Salinger anyway.
 
 
PatrickMM
03:20 / 06.04.04
I saw it for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and completely loved it. The entire opening sequence was phenomenal, but particularly, as mentioned above, the Hey Jude falcon scene. That was just astounding. The film is so refreshing because it's a comedy with actual substance, that never condescends to the audience.
 
 
pomegranate
17:15 / 06.04.04
freeclee, i noticed that right away, that the tenenbaums were much like the glass family. and that's something that put me off actually. i still like the film, though. anderson's attention to detail is infreakingcredible.

i think my favorite part is how at the funeral the kids and their dad are in black warm-up suits instead of the usual red. comedy.
 
 
TeN
16:37 / 08.04.04
One of my favorite films of all time. I always find myself just about to go to sleep when it comes on and I stay up until 3 in the morning watching it.

What Wes has done is create a place in which the complexities of adulthood are put in the context of the innocence and magic of childhood. He does this by borrowing from a number of sources that remind people of childhood. Franny & Zoe is one example... another is From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, about a brother and sister that spend a night in the Museum of Natural History - the same thing that Margot and Richie did as children... the whole child genius thing reminded me of The View from Saturday (by the same author as the Mixed Up Files book). All of those paintings of Margot that Richie has hanging on the wall - they look like something any of us would have painted at 7 or 8. Margot's plays are all very childish in nature - children in animal costumes, etc. Each changing scene is shown by chapters in a book (that looks like the kind we would have read in 4th grade - like The Phantom Tollboth, or A Wrinkle in Time, or Stuart Little, or something like that) with the words the viewer sees describing the first few seconds of what is about to happen in the next scene. Even the music will remind many viewers of their childhood (or at least adolescence). And even the characters themselves - as children, they try to act as adults, but as adults, they are still like children in many ways - Margot and Richie have more of a childlike crush than an adult relationship (they never kiss), Royal fakes a terminal illness and expects to get away with it, Chas is very immature in regards to his relationship with his father, Eli sends his clippings to Etheline.

And yes, I have seen Bottle Rocket. It's a very different film from Tenenbaums (as all of his films are very different), but it posses that magical, dark-humorous characteristic that makes his work instantly recognizable. (and both of the Wilson brothers star in this one too)

P.S. Looking up The Royal Tenenbums on the IMDB, I just found, interestingly enough, that one of the actors from Bottle Rocket's name was Brian Tenenbaum and that the producer of Meet The Parents (also starring Ben Stiller) was Nancy Tenembaum. Small world, huh?


Chas: Why'd you kill yourself?
Richie: I wrote a suicide note after I regained consciousness.
Chas: Is it dark?
Richie: It was a suicide note, of course it was.
Chas: Can we read it?
Richie: No
Chas: Can you paraphrase it for us?
Richie: I don't think so
 
  
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