
For the next stunt in cinematic magic in 2023 (the first one being the captivating Asteroid City), director Wes Anderson tells an intriguing and uniquely told tale. The fantastic Mr. Dahl Fox is what Anderson’s first attempt at stop motion animation, The Fantastic Mr. Fox was based on. Dahl is the source of inspiration. Now, the Fantastic Mr. Fox was a child’s book, but Anderson saw the deeper darker inner ironical meaning of the tale and gave it more credit than it deserved.
Now this is Anderson’s first film on Netflix, and also the first one he claimed was done under emotional duress). Anderson had wished to do this project for a while, and it so happens during that time, Dahl’s estate signed a rather fat contract with the streamer (which I, for one, assumes they did). What became a near forty minute long rant Anderson shorted to a cleverly narrative demonstration of the standards he set for the streamer.
The film is not animated, but rather it has live-action actors who I am quite accustomed to. Ralph Fiennes plays Dahl in the film. Some Anderson film sets have been made to depict the writer’s real-life ‘writing hut’ where Fiennes, after reciting the phrases he needs in order to tell a story, begins to narrate one tale that claims to be factual.
The plot of the globe-trotting Dahl’s tale could potentially make for an incredibly costly multi-location film. Anderson restricts the plot to a number of highly detailed sets which, in this case, reminded me of the marvelous Czech director Karel Zeman’s work, where he blended animated backgrounds with real-life actors. All the performers speak to the camera, functioning as both narrators and characters. And they deliver lines at a breakneck speed with little discernible inflection yet a hint of crafty subtlety.
Anderson has cut down on the actual short story but, the words are nearly Dahl’s. It’s his style and wit that maintains the fancy of the imaginary tale. It isn’t created for children nor is it hostile to children. He knows the smart wit of Dahl’s prose is untouchable, so he doesn’t engage with it. While describing the immensely wealthy titular character, Dahl makes an observation, “Men like Henry Sugar are to be found drifting like seaweed all over the world. They can be seen especially in London, New York, Paris, Nassau, Montego Bay, Cannes, and San Tropez. They are not particularly bad men, but they are not good men either. They are of no particular importance; they’re simply part of the decoration.”
(Dahl’s) claim that this particular story is true is quite a novel meta narrative for me. It gets rolling with the supremely fitted Cumberbatch, who is bored and decides to pull out a random book from a rich friend’s shelf.
He can make out the thinnest book, of course. There seems to be a ‘dissertation’ of some sorts on a man who can see without his eyes. This particular gentleman is portrayed by Ben Kingsley, and his powers are verified by the doctors played by Dev Patel and Richard Aoede. What piques Henry’s interest is this individual’s extraordinary skill of eyeing downturned playing cards. Henry, who happens to be a rather unskilled gambler, makes sure that he learns the art of seeing without eyes. This leads him to try this study method developed by a psychotic yogi, which in turn made him abandon the world for several years because of his obsession.
Let me tell you, ‘the power-that-lets-you-cheat-at-cards’ segment was included in Roger Corman’s 1963 film, ‘X: The Man with X-Ray Eyes.’ In that film, the power is induced by chemicals and in the end, it is only entertaining for a short period of time Ray Millhand’s character has an exaggerated vision that unwantedly drags him to the end of the cosmos. This theme found its expression in ‘Oppenheimer’ as well.
The outcome of Henry’s achievement is slightly distinct and if you are not informed about this story of Dahl’s, it is certainly less harsh than what you would expect from the writer. Witnessing a spiritual growth fable depicted in Anderson’s jewel box style is both wonderful and heartwarming. It is the character of the piece that Lopez perfectly embodies. His delivery is simply centered not willfully eccentric. One of the most delightful features of ‘Henry Sugar’ is that form omits implies dwarfs content.
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