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THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS (Wes Anderson) Rating: NNNNN
The Royal Tenenbaums blankets the rep cinemas this week after receiving mixed reviews during its original release. It’s surprising, since writer/director Wes Anderson’s third film, after his ingenious debut, Bottle Rocket, and the marvellous Rushmore, is a crackling, dry and very wise comedy that pushes Anderson into emotionally dark areas. Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) believes he’s dying, so he and his three grown children (Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson and Gwyneth Paltrow), who were once child prodigies but are now mere screwed-up shells of their younger selves, move back home. The film is really a series of tableaux in which Anderson brings up painful emotional situations, pokes at them with a sharp stick and then leaves them unresolved. He has a way of showing us the vulnerabilities of his caustic characters without humiliating them, and there’s something very human about his humour. See it for Hackman’s brilliantly smooth comedic turn. (March 29-April 2, Fox March 29-April 3, Kingsway & Paradise)
