Netflix Recommendations Thread 3.0

Wes Anderson's Wonderful World of Henry Sugar adaptation is out on Netflix now (40 mins), with three other Roald Dahl shorts to follow - one per day until Saturday :)

I've watched the three Anderson shorts released so far, and thought they were all terrific. I always caveat my Wes Anderson praise with the caveat that I'm a fan, so other's mileage may vary. But they're all really inventive films, adding a lot of new texture, ideas and creative dynamism to Anderson's familiar arsenal. The way they all play with in-film narration and perspective is a particular delight to behold - Henry Sugar is the most obviously inventive in terms of its nesting sets and stories, but there are lots of very clever choices in the others in terms of what Anderson chooses to depict, and how he chooses to depict them. There are especially some very dramatic stylistic swings in the latter half of Rat Catcher which were very entertaining to behold. The colour palettes are also a lot more subtle and understated - almost more Roy Andersson than Wes Anderson at times!

I love Fantastic Mr Fox, but I also appreciate how the three shorts really delve into Dahl's more devilish, darker sense of humour. The latter two in particular have some nasty stings in their respective tails. Although Ralph Fiennes is straight-up hilarious in Rat Catcher.

Looking forward to Poison, but this little experiment has been a delight to watch so far.

It is a strange one - there was the suggestion Netflix would be at least scaling back on auteur projects, but they're still trickling out. As you say, in this case it may simply have been the Dahl / Anderson combo was too hard to resist. It does seem Anderson was interested in adapting Henry Sugar for quite some time too.

I'm curious whether there was ever the intention for this to be an anthology feature, or how the process settled on four shorts. They're very much of a piece, with recurring elements (like Fiennes as Dahl, the direct narration, and the stage hands appearing on screen). I do think they work very well as shorts though - a rare case of leveraging the Netflix release model - as they're all pretty fast and dense and would be a lot to consume in one go.