Register Sunday | December 22 | 2024

O Tenenbaums!

Film-maker Wes Anderson rescues genius from the dullards

Genius has lately become a popular subject of mainstream movies, earning what seems to be a recurring role in a faithfully profitable cycle of war flicks, romantic comedies, and films about glandular teens. Not surprisingly, the portrayal of genius that emerges from recent films is, unlike the subject itself, uninspired. But just as Hollywood is doing its best to give genius a uniform and colorless treatment, Wes Anderson has come out with the visually arresting and unpredictable The Royal Tenenbaums.