Last night, we watched the Royal Tenenbaums directed by Wes Anderson. I’d seen Wes Anderson films before, but I hadn’t seen his really early work. I was really surprised by how much his filming style has evolved, and what elements of his style that he’s chosen to preserve throughout his film career.

One aspect of his filming style that has only grown stronger is his use of colors to create this almost otherworldly atmosphere. The characters he creates are also otherworldly in a way. It’s interesting how he creates the same alien-like feeling to his worlds, but he does it in a very unconventional way. For example, there is a scene in the Royal Tenenbaums that discusses suicide. Although the scene is quite graphic and jarring, he doesn’t play very dramatic music and the characters don’t start bawling when they hear the news. His characters remain consistently quirky and consistent with who we’ve come to know over the course of the movie.

The movie showed me how we’ve come to associate certain emotions with certain elements in film and how weird it feels when we deviate from those elements. I’m looking forward to watching more of Wes Anderson’s films and gaining a deeper understanding of what else can make us seem “alien” even when we’re just being ourselves.