![]() ![]() Naturally, Sugar immediately thinks about how that ability could help him win card games. The actual subject is the “wonderful story,” told by a narrator (Ralph Fiennes) who introduces Sugar just as he discovers a doctor’s journal that records the recollections of an Indian man with the mystic ability to see without his eyes. While the subject of the story appears to be wealthy gambler Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch), the title is a bit of a bait-and-switch, since Henry only features prominently in the final third. If not for a handful of specific, pointed cuts used to emphasize poignant moments, it would feel as though the whole film were a stage production playfully shot in a single take. Anderson had his cast practically memorize the entire story and deliver it in long, unbroken bursts, as they saunter between flats and painted sets that move to reveal new ones each time there story changes setting. That idea could be misguided, but it creates a rapid-fire energy. They often follow their own lines of dialogue with “I said” and similar, turning briefly to the camera, as if they’re all collectively reading the story to the audience. It isn’t the basis for his script, it’s the script itself, with characters enacting the plot while narrating the prose word-for-word. ![]() That may sound like hyperbole, but the way Anderson uses Dahl’s text verges on experimental. ![]() If you want curated lists of our favorite media, check out What to Play and What to Watch. When we award the Polygon Recommends badge, it’s because we believe the recipient is uniquely thought-provoking, entertaining, inventive, or fun - and worth fitting into your schedule. Polygon Recommends is our way of endorsing our favorite games, movies, TV shows, comics, tabletop books, and entertainment experiences. Fox.) In fact, Dahl’s short - part of the short-story collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More - is so uniquely suited to Anderson’s sensibilities, with its multi-layered narrative and imaginative whimsy, that this project is the closest page-to-screen translation in cinema. (Anderson previously adapted one of Dahl’s other children’s books, 1970’s Fantastic Mr. ![]() His second release of 2023, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, rushes in the opposite direction, replacing mournful silences with the nonstop rattle of narration while building exuberant layers of eye-popping façade.Ī 40-minute adaptation of a 70-page story, Henry Sugar is as much Anderson’s version of the tale as it is an ode to the author, Roald Dahl. It bore his signature children’s pop-up book style, but in order to chip away at the hardened layers of grief, he presented his usual flourishes with uncanny restraint. The film will be released later this September.Įarlier this year, Wes Anderson released the charming, melancholy Asteroid City. Sugar travels the world under many aliases and sets up multiple well-equipped orphanages around the globe.This review of Wes Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar comes from the film’s premiere at the 2023 Venice International Film Festival. In order to escape and hide his identity better, he enlists the help of a skilled makeup artist in Hollywood, who comes up with various disguises for him. He reaches the shores of Las Vegas, where he ends up winning big at three different casinos, all owned by the same Mafioso. A near-riot situation ensues and a police officer plants the idea in Sugar’s mind to dispose of his wealth in more meaningful and charitable ways. One fine morning, Sugar, repulsed by his hoarded wealth, decides to throw his money off the balcony of his London home. He racks up a considerable amount of wealth, but eventually, the thrill wears off, and his hedonistic ways become anathema to him. It takes Sugar three years to master the ability, which he then promptly uses to gamble. Sugar decides to steal the detailed interview where Khan’s description of the meditation method used to gain this second sight is documented. ![]()
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