- An enjoyable abundance of visual treats and I don’t go on this long for unarchiveable films
- I love the pop-up book sequence- very imaginative- it’s like a montage in one simulated long-take
- The main auteur influence is Wes Anderson and I’ll get to that in a second- but there’s a fair amount of Jean-Pierre Jeunet- particularly Amelie which has some roots in early Truffaut—we have the crusty Colonel with a crush much like Amelie
- I’ll have to check it out again to set if it was set up formally but the wide editing introduced 45 minutes in seems like a small fail/flaw
- So on with Anderson—it borrows Wes Anderson’s use of color, set design detail and symmetry to great effect. Even the heavy pinks (particularly used in prison) is borrowed very clearly from Grand Budapest
- There’s some of Chaplin’s charm here- his tramp in the title character Paddington—naiveté that turns into hijinks and humor
- I could do without the 77th cinematic pilfering of the tattooed knuckles taken from Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter
- Sally Hawkins, as displayed as well in The Shape of Water (in an actual silent role) is a master of expression and pantomime- there’s some Giulietta Masina (who was influenced by Chaplin)
- Great 360 shot of them cooking marmalade
- Gorgeous aerial shots—one of the nuns in the cathedral. Spiral staircase
- Symmetry in the prison dining room, the clock behind the warden—framing as the prisons are introduced and are getting introduced
- The stain glass windows in Hugh Grant’s sun room
- More Wes here- the prison break goes into full diorama
- I look forward to what King does next- which is the sign of an auteur or director talent
- The skills of the family are set up in the narrative formally for a sound and satisfying climax
- Recommend for sure- could see going higher with a closer look
I revisited the Paddington movies recently, and today I discovered a little film King did in 2009 called Bunny and the Bull. I’m not sure if it’s archiveable, but it was interesting seeing how his style came through with a much smaller budget than he had here. I also hadn’t realised that he directed every episode of The Mighty Boosh – a classic TV show among my friend group in my adolescence, and so visually inventive. I agree that he’s an auteur worth keeping an eye on.