I love Wes Anderson. I’m not just saying this so I sound like a pretentious movie snob who only critiques movies while wearing a cravat – heck, I don’t think I’ve been to the cinema and not ordered a Tango Ice Blast.
I honestly bloody love Wes Anderson. Even his not-so-good movies, like The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, still proudly sit in my DVD collection.
That’s why, when I found out an exhibition offering a glimpse into the making of Wes’ upcoming film, Isle of Dogs, had opened at The Store X, 180 The Strand, I immediately left work, and pied off any jobs that needed to be done left at a reasonable time, and headed down after work, to see it.*
* I forgot; my manager reads this.
Similar to the striking animation used in Anderson’s telling of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, Isle of Dogs uses stop-motion animation, and you can see several of the puppets and sets at said exhibit. Annoyingly, the guards will tackle you if you try to smuggle any of them under your shirt. So I’ve heard.
The exhibit – which doesn’t cost a penny to get into – not only allows guests to gain an insight into how a Wes Anderson movie is made, but is also home to a life-size recreation of one of the sets; the Megasaki noodle bar, which was once the home to the dog played by Bill Murray, Boss. Here you can have – you guessed it – your own bowl of Anderson-inspired noodles.
Isle of Dogs tells the story of a 12-year-old boy, Atari Kobayashi, who sets off in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots, after – by Executive Decree – all canine pets are exiled to a garbage-dump. Think Donald Trump, but instead of dogs, it’s any one of colour, homosexuals, or those who don’t belong to the Christian faith.
Starring the likes of Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Jeff Goldblum, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, Scarlett Johansson and Yoko Ono, the film was shot over 445 days, at East London’s 3 Mills Studios, where 240 sets and 1,097 puppets were used to create the 144,000 still frames. Now how depressed do you feel about what you’ve accomplished with your life?