9. Introducing The Tenenbaums - The Royal Tenenbaums
As we've seen time and time again, Anderson sure knows how to piece together a montage. And the one that opens The Royal Tenenbaums, posing as the first page of a novel, is surely one of the most striking. Alec Baldwin's authoritative narration begins with patriarch Royal (Gene Hackman), before moving onto the lives he has messed up; namely, those of his children Chas (Ben Stiller), Richie (Luke Wilson) and Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow). They appear first as precocious pre-teens and then as troubled twentysomethings, each believing that they're failures in one form or another. Not only have their individual talents deserted them (as an entrepreneur, tennis pro and renowned playwright, respectively) but their father has, too. As we rattle through these vignettes, the soundtrack ranging from baroque to a cover of 'Hey Jude', each is a masterful mini-opera of fortunes found and faded.
Yorkshireman (hence the surname). Often spotted sacrificing sleep and sanity for the annual Leeds International Film Festival. For a sample of (fairly) recent film reviews, please visit whatsnottoblog.wordpress.com.
