‘The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar’ (2023) Review: Anderson’s Best Movie Yet
Earlier this year, Wes Anderson’s directorial style was all over TikTok. People were romanticising their lives like a ‘Wes Anderson movie’ by imitating his cinematic style and distinctive colour palette. With symmetrical framing, deadpan stares, and some quirky music, there’s nothing dull about his cinematic style. It stands out, and for good reason. From The Darjeeling Limited to The Grand Budapest Hotel, he has made a reputation by creating a unique style. The users missed the assignment, and Anderson doesn’t care about the TikTok trend. This year’s Asteroid City proved that no one can replicate his unique cinematic style. After watching the short film, it’s clear no one comes close to Anderson’s style.
As he sits in a chair in the study, Roald Dahl (portrayed by Ralph Fiennes) narrates a story. He describes the life of the titular character, Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch), who discovers a doctor’s journal. It belongs to Z.Z. Chatterjee (Dev Patel). He is an Indian man who lives in Calcutta. He documented the study of an Indian man, Imdad Khan (Ben Kingsley), who claims to possess the power to see without sight. Z.Z. Chatterjee narrates the tale of his recollections to figure out how Imdad mastered this power. But Henry has other plans; he wants to uncover the secret ability to win card games and make millions of money.
Anderson is quite meticulous about the style and substance of his movies. He wants to channel the original material with a new paintbrush and create melancholy work. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is the first of the four Roald Dahl shorts Anderson adapted for Netflix. (Fantastic Mr. Fox was his first Dahl adaption released in 2009). Anderson is the only director who can helm Dahl’s stories while bringing quirky humour and multi-layered storytelling.
In The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, his characters are the storytellers. These characters will break the fourth wall and narrate the short film as the sets are wheeled off and into the frame. The backgrounds are colourful and diverse. Each time the scene changes, Anderson provides an animated backdrop for the characters to walk and adjust to the take. It has the aesthetic of a stage production, where even the background characters change the props and help the narrators to tell the story.
Also, Anderson integrates Dahl’s text into the script by infusing words like “I said,” and “he said” as the characters turn to the camera. It gives off the elements of these characters reading the story (or script) straight to the audience with rapid-fire acting and narration. This fast-paced direction might have either been a deliberate attempt to shorten the story or provide a meta-narrative form of storytelling to experiment with a new style.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is a masterclass for Anderson’s unique aesthetics. It’s a perfect combination of an incredible balance of tone and structure. The distinctive style of Anderson’s direction never loses sight.
It’s a delightful short movie that should have been longer, but he brings surprising new and familiar stylistic choices, which proves that he is the perfect fit to adapt Dahl’s novels. The imaginative world of Anderson’s cinematic universe can never replicated. His work evokes a poise and elegant feeling that is impossible to imitate.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is currently streaming on Netflix.
Strike Funds: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1weorhmG1H7cszY3rGHCpNYsgleegkuOSH7rD47JzSAQ/edit
Solidarity with striking film and television workers: https://freelancesolidarity.org/wga-sag-strike-solidarity/
