With the wide release of Asteroid City this past weekend, I was given an almost impossible task which was to rank the films of Wes Anderson. Being a Wes Anderson apologist, I have liked all of his films and he works are one of the reasons why I love movies as much as I do. Therefore, making this list was a difficult task. While some of these probably could shift around over time, this is how my personal list currently stands.
11. The Darjeeling Limited
As mentioned, I like every Wes Anderson film, therefore being on the bottom of this list shouldn’t be taken as a negative. The Darjeeling Limited is a cute film with that classic Wes Anderson feel, but the characters and story here are less engaging than that of his other films.
10. Bottle Rocket
Bottle Rocket was Wes Anderson’s first film and it shows. His cemented film language doesn’t translate here as much as his other films, but it’s cool to see where he started from. While watching this for the first time, one can’t help but think “oh this guy is going places there’s something really cool going on here!”
9. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
I love the remainder of the entries on this list so ranking them is difficult. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou was dismissed once it was first released and has since become a cult classic, featuring some of the best Wes Anderson moments. The montage that introduces audiences to the boat or the beautiful Sigur Ros needle drop as Zissou sees the shark for the first time are just a few standouts. The whole soundtrack by Seu Jorge, covering so many David Bowie songs, also gives the film a unique identity. While I love the whole movie, I often find myself just wanting for it to get to the parts I love as opposed to some of his other films that I just love all the way through.
8. The French Dispatch
The French Dispatch is the ultimate love letter to journalism and an immaculately crafted one at that. Since this film acts more like an anthology, it is hard to connect to any single character and find the same pathos as them in comparison to some of Anderson’s other works. Nevertheless, it is still a terrific film about storytelling that choked me up after watching it for the first time in the theatre.
7. Rushmore
It feels weird to have Rushmore this low on the list. I’ve seen this movie so many times and it’s so delightful. Max Fisher, played by Wes Anderson regular Jason Schwartzman, is one of the most iconic characters Anderson has ever written. He is an incredibly problematic and grating character who represents all of our deepest insecurities. Over the course of the film, it starts to feel like an out of body experience at times. There’s also numerous Cat Stevens needle drops which immediately make it a plus in my book.
6. Isle of Dogs
Isle of Dogs was one of my most anticipated movies of all time back in 2018 and it met my expectations. While some Wes Anderson fans consider it to be one of his weaker films, I genuinely don’t understand why and think it is one of his most underrated movies. Not only do I love how gritty the film is, I find pathos in the characters, and it features some of the best production design I’ve ever seen in any movie.
5. The Grand Budapest Hotel
Many consider The Grand Budapest Hotel to be Wes Anderson’s magnum opus and in many ways they are correct. The movie is a flourish of all of Anderson’s trademarks running on all cylinders. Anyone looking up the definition of a Wes Anderson film will find this one. Its aspect ratio changes, huge scale, immaculate blocking, color theory, and giant cast all culminate in a film that will continue to make its mark in pop culture history forever. That being said, I find myself attached a little more to his other four works. At this point, we are just comparing close to perfect movies.
4. Asteroid City
Walking out of Asteroid City, I was not expecting to rank it this high, but it has not left my mind since watching it. Audiences are either going to love or be really annoyed by the framing device this film uses though for me, I was memorized by it. It feels like Wes Anderson is letting us know that he knows how much his dry humor, saturated colors and picturesque cinematography is parodied and discussed and loves it. It’s a film whose meta commentary makes us understand our place as artists trying to figure out how to piece together our own stories with our emotional baggage. I think it just might be a masterpiece.
3. Moonrise Kingdom
What a beautiful little movie. Moonrise Kingdom is a sweet tale of two kids discovering first love and their own independence away from their tribe. It’s a film that will have audiences willfully reminiscing on a simpler time when they were simply trying to figure their place in the universe. In the end, it is a sweet coming of age tale that touches my heart every time I watch it.
2. The Fantastic Mr. Fox
These next two are all timers for me. The Fantastic Mr. Fox is the perfect dissection of a children’s book adapted to the big screen. Anderson creates such a beautiful world that appeals to kids and adults alike while boasting a great narrative that serves as a beautiful dissection of the super ego and shows the importance of family bonds and self actualization. It also has a talking possum. What more could you cussing want?
1. The Royal Tenenbaums
The Royal Tenenbaums might not be the first Wes Anderson film people think of, it is arguably his best. All of his hallmarks as a director are perfectly realized here while the characters are strongly identifiable. The film has a hilarious dry sense of humor juxtaposed with beautiful pathos about a group of broken people trying to move past their trauma and discover their self worth. It’s a bittersweet symphony reminding audiences that life can be difficult to navigate, but it is still worth it in the end.
Check out Asteroid City, in theatres now.
still courtesy of Focus Features
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