The Royal Tenenbaums

Houston’s own Wesley Wales Anderson – known as Wes by friends and pretty much everyone else, too – said on his third film’s DVD commentary that its story about a dysfunctional family began from his own parents’ divorce. Of course, his father wasn’t really the con man that Gene Hackman embodies in iconic film patriarch Royal Tenenbaum – though Anderson’s mom was an archaeologist just like Anjelica Huston’s Ethel – but this film’s distance from reality only benefits its tale of familial trauma. Both serious and silly, the 2001-released movie covers all the most taboo topics with typical Anderson charm, though never dismissing any action’s emotional implications. The Royal Tenenbaums was for this writer the first time I saw anything that matched both my aesthetic and narrative sensibilities entirely. Perhaps, if this is your initial visit to the Tenenbaums’ pink townhouse, you’ll discover you feel the same. – James Scott Read a full review of The Royal Tenenbaums.