In his second cinematic offering of 2023, following the exceptional \u201cAsteroid City,\u201d director Wes Anderson brings to life a charming tale with his trademark meticulousness. The source material is Roald Dahl\u2019s \u201cThe Fantastic Mr. Fox,\u201d which also served as Anderson\u2019s introduction to stop-motion animation. While Dahl\u2019s original work had elements suitable for children, Anderson retained its more mature themes and subtle hints of darkness beneath its already sardonic wit.<\/p>\n
This film marks Anderson\u2019s debut with Netflix, and interestingly, it\u2019s the first project he admitted to making somewhat reluctantly. While Anderson had harbored a desire to bring this project to life for some time, Dahl\u2019s estate struck a presumably lucrative deal with the streaming platform. The result is a meticulously crafted narrative, primarily presented in the square Academy ratio, with occasional playful shifts in framing.<\/p>\n
The film features live-action actors rather than animation, with a cast of familiar and reliable faces. Ralph Fiennes portrays a version of Dahl, opening the story in a meticulously recreated rendition of the writer\u2019s actual \u201cwriting hut.\u201d After listing the essentials needed to kickstart his storytelling process, Fiennes begins recounting what is purported to be a true tale.<\/p>\n
Dahl\u2019s original story spans the globe and could potentially be adapted into an expensive, multi-location film. However, Anderson confines the action to a series of carefully designed sets, reminiscent of the work of the brilliant Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman, who integrated live-action actors into animated backgrounds. All the actors directly address the camera, serving as both narrators and characters, delivering their lines with subtle craftsmanship at a brisk pace.<\/p>\n
While the majority of the dialogue belongs to Dahl, Anderson condenses the original short story, which, though whimsical, is not explicitly aimed at children (nor is it unfriendly to them). Recognizing the irreplaceable dry wit of Dahl\u2019s prose, Anderson wisely refrains from attempting to improve upon it. Describing the immensely wealthy protagonist, Dahl remarks, \u201cMen like Henry Sugar are to be found drifting like seaweed all over the world\u2026 They are not particularly bad men, but they are not good men either. They are of no particular importance; they\u2019re simply part of the decoration.\u201d<\/p>\n
The story itself is a meta-narrative (unless one chooses to take Dahl\u2019s assertion of its truth at face value) that takes a turn when Henry (played to perfection by Benedict Cumberbatch), seeking excitement, plucks a slim volume from a wealthy friend\u2019s library shelf. This volume turns out to be a dissertation on a man with the ability to see without his eyes, portrayed by Ben Kingsley, confirmed by doctors played by Dev Patel and Richard Ayoade. What captivates Henry is the man\u2019s skill in seeing through face-down playing cards. This sets Henry on a path of self-taught mastery through a study method prescribed by a cantankerous yogi, leading him to isolate himself from society for several years in his pursuit.<\/p>\n
The notion of a power enabling card cheating has been explored in cinema before, notably in Roger Corman\u2019s 1963 film \u201cX: The Man with X-Ray Eyes.\u201d In that film, the power is chemically induced and initially enjoyable, but ultimately overwhelming. Henry\u2019s newfound ability takes a different turn, offering a gentler outcome than one might expect from Dahl. It\u2019s touching and beautiful to witness a spiritual journey told through Anderson\u2019s signature style, which in this instance is not eccentric for its own sake, but beautifully focused. In \u201cHenry Sugar,\u201d form and content come together in a most delightful manner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In his second cinematic offering of 2023, following the exceptional \u201cAsteroid City,\u201d director Wes Anderson brings to life a charming\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":4386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[1186],"class_list":["post-4384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-the-wonderful-story-of-henry-sugar-review"],"reading_time":"3 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}