Yesterday I decided to watch The Royal Tenenbaums which I've heard great things about yet never really gotten the chance to see for myself. I was pleased because it turned out to be one of those movies where the characters are basically the story.
It's a black comedy movie about a man named Royal Tenenbaum (I can't believe someone would actually name their child Royal, but anyways) and his family. He has three kids, 2 boys and 1 adopted girl : Chas, Margot, and Richie. They were all child prodigies in each of their fields with the guidance of their mother, Etheline Tenenbaum, who's relationship with Royal had always been long over but never officially severed. The connection with his children weren't better either, except with Richie. The storyline picks up when all the kids are grown-up and pretty much just broken shadows of their former genius selves.
Besides all the quirky detailing and Alec Baldwin as the voice narrator, another good thing about this movie is the soundtrack. Its been re-released a few times but here's the original track listing :
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Sooo good.
Also, the cast is one of the best in movies to date. I was worried but also excited during the opening credits of the movie because I realized this movie was basically full of awesome people, which generally translates into a bad time. But this is definitely one of the rare exceptions to that rule.
My favorite character - I'm sure like many other people who've enjoyed this movie - is Margot Tenenbaum. I can't say I've watched all of Gwyneth Paltrow's works but I have a feeling this will always be one of her best performances ever.
Things to know about
- Adopted at age 2 and her father never failed to mention this when he introduced her
- A playwright genius, winning a $50k Braverman grant in the 9th grade
- Solemnly expresses her feelings through her face, or any other physical means
- Trademark style -- bob haircut, red hair pin, fur (hopefully faux) mantel, and striped polo dresses
- Managed to start a smoking habit since age 12 without any of her family members knowing it
- Seems to enjoy traveling to far places and courting with strange men (and women?)
- Married twice; first to a Jamaican artist and then to a respected writer/neurologist
FILM FUN FACT \\ the brand of cigs Margot smoked in the movie is only sold in Ireland and discontinued in the 1970s. Wes Anderson (director) explained that this was both because of the 70s theme of the movie and also to make Margot's smoking habit just a little bit stranger.
Cigarettes all the way from Ireland? Sounds very Margot.
Besides Gwyneth's act, Ben Stiller's also very different in this role from his usual slapstick in-your-face comedies. I think about 90% of the time in this movie he's angsty, caused by the death of his wife and daddy issues stemming from childhood.
All the characters were strange and surreal but terribly relatable and likable at the same time. The only normal characters were probably Henry Sherman, the family accountant who falls in love with Etheline, and his son who's enrolled in the military. Even Luke Wilson's seemingly okay character Richie goes dark side when he attempts to suicide on the basis of love for his adopted sister, Margot. By the way, Luke's face here is A+ so if there are any Luke Wilson or Wilson Brothers fans watching this movie they will be greeted with gracious scenes of him with his pretty face full frontal without hobo hairs. It was amusing, though, to see Luke and Owen play bestfriends when in real life they're actually brothers.
Unlike other quirk movies, this one actually has a kind of happy ending, which is nice for a change. We're actually told what happens to them. No mysterious hanging plot left to the imagination of the audience regarding the fate of the characters, which always annoys me in movies. I don't want to guess what happens next in their lives, I want to KNOW. Does that make sense? I feel like sometimes these kind of movies don't know how to end their own abstract flow and so the movie ends 'hanging', usually with some closing dialogue that doesn't have anything to do with the movie but actually it does and the characters fade out on screen into black.
I don't recommend watching this movie if you're the sort that goes for the no fuss, no muss type of movies, the mainstream clear-plotted ones with some morale message to convey. But if you're into the more strangely enjoyable weird indie kind of movies, like myself, then this should be at the top of your list.
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