Photo: Victoires International / Canal + / Kobal / Shutterstock
If it weren’t for the pandemic, we’d be in the midst of Hollywood’s epic summer season, enjoying the near-weekly presentation of major movies, whether it’s Tom Cruise’s return to his most iconic role from the 1980s (Top Gun: Maverick) or Christopher Nolan’s long-awaited thriller (BeginningInstead, you’re locked up trying to figure out what to look at without going crazy.
This is where we come in. On a regular basis, we will present “The Replacements”: a list of five alternative options for each large tent you were excited to see before COVID-19 changed our lives. We will select films that are thematic or narrative similar to the postponed box office success, offering selections ranging from certifiable classics to forgotten gems. At the moment, event movies are on hold. But hopefully our alternatives will scratch that cinematic itch.
This week is The French office, the new film by Oscar-nominated director Wes Anderson, and the first since 2018 Isle of Dogs, who was generously encouraged but roundly criticized for his cultural appropriation. His latest is said to be a triptych of short stories centered on the French office of an American newspaper. (The full title of the movie is actually The French Office of Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun.) Movie stars … well, everyone, including a number of Anderson regulars like Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson. If the advance is an indication, Anderson will be shuffled between deadlines and aspect ratios, and one of the stories will take place during the French uprising of 1968. And like his recent films, more specifically The great hotel in Budapest, comedy and drama seem to stand shoulder to shoulder in this new play.
