Wes Anderson Vacations HERE

By Angela McCormack / January 27th, 2012 in Film / New York / 659 views

The genre of hotel commercials is a relatively new one with few conventions and boundaries, and yet director Luca Guadagnino and producer Waris Ahluwalia (actor, jewelry designer, tea shop owner, Wes Anderson’s BFF) have gone and broken them passionately, full throttle and arms ablaze. Made for The Luxury Collection Hotel and Resorts, HERE is a quiet, short film centering around a romantic game of hide and seek of sorts, whisking a glamorous blonde around the world and through elegant hotel rooms on a quest to reunite with her lover. The art direction is outstandingly gorgeous, its playfulness delicate and warming. Any other hotel concept film would be all limousines, spas, bell boys and cheesy receptionist service that it’s so impressive and exhilarating to see a promotional concept not only nail its commercial purpose but also stand individually as a phenomenal piece of film.

HERE really is a daring concept for a luxury hotel chain to go after—for us, though, the film quickly snowballed into a game of “Spot The Wes Anderson Reference”. It’s so linked to Anderson’s films because of Ahluwalia, friend and collaborator with Anderson (not to mention regular wonderboy Jason Schwartzman sneakily getting in on the project by writing the score) who conceived and produced the film. Fittingly, it’s a Wes-Fest from the start; the aesthetic alone is a dead giveaway: crisp textured paper, close ups on written text, that signature Anderson yellow, clean lines, blocked colour, full bodied and wide landscapes with a lone figure, backs of heads and bare sounds to complement an intricate Foley.

There’s direct Anderson references littered everyplace—a bathed yellow scene at 3:23, Richie Tenenbaum’s Mordecai at 4:10, the spitting image of Hotel Chevalier at 8:52, intense Margot Tenenbaum vibes at 6:54 (cropped blonde hair on model and star Agyness Deyn; a tennis dress), Darjeeling Limited at 9:01 (don’t try and tell me those strung together canopies just happen to look like train carriages against a dry mountain range), Life Acquatic with Steve Zissou at 12:59. More often than once we were expecting Bill Murray to pop up and interject with dry wit and a blank expression, but alas, Ahluwalia managed to hold that one back.

We’re sure there’s plenty more nods to Wes lurking in those fifteen minutes, go ahead and play your own game of hide and seek.