The French Dispatch, directed by Wes Anderson, has been one of the most anticipated films of 2021, with this release date being pushed back not once but twice. The movie is about an American newspaper reporting on a fictional 20th-century France as the film follows the story lines of multiple different journalists. With big shot names attached to the film such as Timothee Chalamet and Owen Wilson, expectations were high among many movie lovers. 

In one word, I would describe the film as eccentric. The movie is odd to say the least, switching between black and white to color as well as staying in black and white with random objects being in exuberant color. Each storyline was unique to itself with an element so serious it became comical. 

Unlike anything I’ve ever seen, The French Dispatch is by far the oddest film I’ve ever viewed with characters nothing short of peculiar. Needless to say I absolutely loved it. Not only is the movie unusual but it is special, described as “a love letter to journalists” the film does just that. It writes the ultimate love letter, not only telling the stories of those the journalists are writing about but telling their stories as well. 

Journalistic neutrality is also discussed in the film, something that stuck with me especially considering the emotional connection the journalist in question had to the events she was reporting on. I believe that this is just one of the very important messages that was snuck into this comedy. 

The seriousness of each character, with no one seeming to have the ability to smile only made the film stranger and somehow inexplicably funny. For the majority of the movie I sat there unsure if I was meant to laugh or study the tense actions of each character that appeared on the screen.  

It is undeniably interesting, immersing one in the full cinematic experience the likes of which I haven’t seen in many movies released within the last decade. Wes Anderson has created a film unlike any I have ever seen and my only complaint is that I can never watch it for the first time again.