Anderson's ATT spots

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This, for me, is the very best of the five Wes Anderson ATT tube spots. Like Anderson's popular American Express commercial from a couple of years ago, they're all about a keyed-up character/pitchperson moving from one set to another without cuts. The idea is that nobody works in any one place anymore. In a sense, we all work in "Hollyarkizonasouthamaryland."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on September 17, 2007 at 12:30 PM

comment #1

JD says ...

This one and the first one are really good, but the other three are very awkwardly executed/acted. As much as I liked The Life Aquatic, I think it suffered from a similar problem: elaborate blocking/staging that gets in the way of the performances. Increasingly, this is becoming a Wes Anderson trademark.

Posted by JD at September 17, 2007 12:54 PM

comment #2

Dan Revill says ...

I like the actor one, but my favourite is the reporter.

Posted by Dan Revill at September 17, 2007 1:01 PM

comment #3

Dan Revill says ...

And while on the subject of commercials, how about the Michael Mann helmed Nike spot?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX_5tzwVz3I

It's brilliant.

Posted by Dan Revill at September 17, 2007 1:03 PM

comment #4

actionman says ...

totally off post topic...but Wells...have you seen EASTERN PROMISES yet? it's fucking tremendous. I can't believe you haven't yet flipped out for it....I was left spellbound by it. That fight scene was remarkable, a tour de force of physical acting and direction. I can't wait to see it again. I would have thought you'd have loved it Wells.

Posted by actionman at September 17, 2007 1:05 PM

comment #5

aaron says ...

Incidentally, the one you single out features the only actor I recognize: Anderson favourite Larry Pine (the brilliant Charlie Rose facsimile in THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS). Save for the American Express, I think he's appeared in every other Anderson ad so far (Ikea, Sony Electronics).

Posted by aaron at September 17, 2007 1:06 PM

comment #6

MilkMan says ...

I saw Eastern Promises yesterday actionman and I really liked it, too. I know there are people out there who think this is Minor Cronenberg, or that he's become some kind of hack doing work-for-hire, but it's a Cronenberg movie just as much as Scanners or Dead Ringers. Viggo is great, never telegraphing his character's secret. The three violent scenes are like something out of a Herschell Gordon Lewis movie. Eastern Promises would make a great double feature with Deep Cover. Cronenberg is so simple in his direction that it looks like not much is going on, but there is. It's what happened before the movie started and what's going to happen after the movie ends that makes this movie worth the 14.00 I spent to see it at Arclight.

Posted by MilkMan at September 17, 2007 1:38 PM

comment #7

corey3rd says ...

there was a better series of phone ads around here where the characters seem to step right and left into different scenes in order to show all the places they need to call. It kinda reminded me of Science of Sleep.

Larry Pine? Pssshht - ROBERT PINE is tree in the actor forest!

Posted by corey3rd at September 17, 2007 1:50 PM

comment #8

actionman says ...

totally agree MilkMan...i almost don't want to talk about the movie at all with anyone who hasn't seen it. i want everyone to be as surprised as I was. I loved the film, can't wait to check it out again down the road.

Posted by actionman at September 17, 2007 2:24 PM

comment #9

christian says ...

i'd rather wes didn't do ads for censoring monopolies like AT&T -- who can go fuck themselves. nothing cool about it at all.

Posted by christian at September 17, 2007 2:30 PM

comment #10

Ju-osh says ...

Yes, his artistic soul was much purer when he was only making movies for Disney.

Posted by Ju-osh at September 17, 2007 2:49 PM

comment #11

MilkMan says ...

Cronenberg and Viggo should do a Nikolai Luzhin (sic [?]) Trilogy.

Wes Anderson should do a children's movie. I think he is. And he should.

Or he should be the next American filmmaker to do a Dogme film. He needs an aesthetic enema.

Posted by MilkMan at September 17, 2007 2:53 PM

comment #12

alynch says ...

I just saw Dennis Hopper in an Ameritrade Financial commercial, and I think my soul just died a little. Straight-to-DVD schlock is one thing, but commercials Dennis??? Commercials???

Posted by alynch at September 17, 2007 3:42 PM

comment #13