When you sit down to watch new work from Wes Anderson – the filmmaker who nerds online just can’t seem to stop trying and failing to imitate via embarrassing AI parodies – there is a good chance you’re about to experience a film as visually inventive as it is thematically ambitious. With a distinctive yet ever-evolving style, Wes keeps finding new ways to get at what it is to be alive, as his eccentrically-drawn characters bumble their way through his vibrant worlds. Though often pigeonholed as being “twee,” Anderson remains unafraid of dropping his lens directly into the darker corners of existence, sneaking it up on us when you least expect him to.
His latest film, the highly anticipated Asteroid City, recently premiered at Cannes Film Festival to overwhelmingly positive reviews. It is a film that lives up to the description of being the “most Wes Anderson movie Wes Anderson has ever made” – a claim which is often undeservedly attached to each new work he puts out. Of course, this may fittingly also describe the other 2023 film of his on the horizon. Until then, here’s a ranking of every film Anderson has made to date, from his humble beginnings to his emergence as one of cinema’s great auteurs.
11. Bottle Rocket (1996)
Let’s begin at the start of Anderson’s career, with his debut feature Bottle Rocket. Though not without some merits, it remains his most slight film: building on the initial short of the same name without achieving any greater resonance. Starring brothers Luke and Owen Wilson, the latter of whom co-wrote the film with Anderson, it accompanies three friends as they try to become outlaws. One might be tempted to call it mumblecore-adjacent, but there is something a bit more creative than that in it, even if it is never as formally audacious as Anderson’s subsequent films. Still, it shouldn’t be written off entirely as it set the stage for his better work to come.
10. Rushmore (1998)
Placing us in the pint-sized shoes of precocious teenager Max Fischer, played with just the right amount of snark by Jason Schwartzman in his feature debut, Rushmore follows Max as he entertains his grand aspirations despite being woefully out of his depth. Max is, to put it lightly, a bit of an asshole with a lot of growing up to do. He spends most of the film trying to get the attention of a new teacher at his school who he has fallen in love with who, for obvious reasons, generally wants nothing to do with him. While this could be an exasperating watch in the wrong hands, Anderson’s portrait of a petulant child works because of just how committed Schwartzman is to the character. There is never a moment where he isn’t hitting every note of Max’s youthful arrogance to absolute perfection.
9. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Accompanying the crew of the titular oceanographer as they set out on a mission of revenge, the more interesting aspects of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou emerge from its technical elements; the narrative itself doesn’t quite reach the same emotional depths that its characters dive into. Defined by deadpan delivery, red beanies, and striking animation, it riffs on its Cousteau-esque figure while not quite hitting all the necessary notes as cleanly as one would hope. However, with an impressive production design and a charming boldness that trusts the audience to go along with some of its bigger swings, it nevertheless sees Anderson testing limits that he would continue to do throughout his future.
8. The Darjeeling Limited
Perhaps one of the more divisive rankings on this list, The Darjeeling Limited is one of Anderson’s most fascinating works even if it isn’t completely successful. Tracing the journey of three estranged brothers as they take a train across India to reconnect and, unknown to two of them, find their mother, it sees them eventually having to confront their respective flaws in order to find a way forward. While there is a degree of self-awareness about the potential perils of using India more as a colourful backdrop than a real place with real people independent of the tourists just passing through, some of the supporting characters are still given short shrift at key moments.
7. Isle of Dogs
The lesser of Anderson’s two stop-motion features, Isle of Dogs is a mostly agreeable adventure that comes to life in the details of its meticulous craft. You can practically feel the texture of everything, from the way the fur of its canine characters ripples in the wind to the grimy environments and this elevates the movie above its troubling narrative shortcomings. In particular, the points raised about Anderson’s depiction of Japan and the fact that he leaves many of the Japanese characters off to the side even when they speak. There is much that ends up feeling like these characters are being held at a distance as a result, making it hard to get as immersed in the world as we could have been. Each work of stop-motion animation, though, with all the work required for every individual frame, feels like a rare gift to see. While many may roll their eyes at proclamations about the “magic of the movies,” this distinct style is one of those aspects of the form that earns such praise. Had its story been told with the same care that everything else about it had been constructed with, then this could have easily snuck into the top five of Anderson’s filmography.
6. Fantastic Mr. Fox
Though this earlier Anderson stop-motion animation is a bit rougher around the edges, Fantastic Mr. Fox boasts a better-executed story that finds moments of tranquility alongside its thrills. Based on the children’s novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, the famed story is still shaped and expanded upon to be something that is more Anderson than it is anyone else. Considering the film was co-written with Noah Baumbach, it would make for an unexpectedly fitting double feature with the latter’s recent film White Noise: both follow families facing down their annihilation, and end with a supermarket dance sequence. In Wes’ movie, this family (of foxes) become threatened by their human neighbours after the patriarch, George Clooney’s Mr. Fox, begins falling back into his old habits and stealing from them. With each escalation, the emotional journey of this furry family just trying to make ends meet is brought into focus. While it may be his most sentimental work of any on this list, it is crossed with a darkness that Anderson executes to near perfection. Though there are better works to come, this one will always remain one of his most joyous.
5. The French Dispatch
The French Dispatch manages to tell three different yet interconnected stories, paying tribute to the art of journalism in a time when it is currently in precipitous decline. While this marked a significant departure from how Anderson typically approaches his films, it also feels like he is right at home as he explores the particular trials and tribulations of his ensemble cast of characters. What ties them together is that each is part of a magazine that is publishing its final issue — a regrettably familiar state of affairs for media — and is seen through the eyes of a different writer who works at each publication. This creates greater narrative freedom that allows for a variety of musings on art, culture, and history all wrapped in one package, much like a magazine itself, with each of the stories shining in its own special ways.
4. Moonrise Kingdom
Not only is Moonrise Kingdom one of Anderson’s funniest films, it is also one of his most melancholic cinematic reflections. Its power comes in small moments before laying you flat. Set in 1965, it introduces us to one of the director’s most iconic duos, two young lovers named Sam and Suzy. Played by an outstanding Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward respectively, they each find themselves looking to abandon the hand that life has dealt them and flee. Hatching a plan to do just that, they find that success will not come so easily as they are pursued by a search party on the fictional island of New Penzance. While we are told this is off the coast of New England, it feels like it is a dreamlike place snatched out of time more than it is tethered to our reality. The two young kids revel in their freedom before reality comes knocking at their tent and Anderson slips in somber notes that accumulate until they threaten to wash everything away. It must also be noted that throughout all of this, while the ensemble cast is uniformly wonderful, it is Bruce Willis who steals the show.
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
One of those films that you can just watch over and over without ever growing tired of it, The Grand Budapest Hotel is breathtaking from top to bottom. Containing what is arguably longtime composer Alexandre Desplat’s best score to date, the mannered way in which its narrative tapestry unfurls before you in conjunction with the music is magnificent to behold. Taking us further back into the past than Anderson ever has before, it studies the beloved concierge of the titular hotel through the eyes of a new lobby boy. The former, M. Gustave, is played by Ralph Fiennes in top form and the latter, Zero, is played by a terrific Tony Revolori, in a breakout role where he doesn’t miss a single step. When the duo becomes the target of a conspiracy to cover up a murder motivated by money, they set out to find answers while also looking over their shoulders so as to not be taken down by the forces of greed pursuing them. This makes it not only Anderson’s most accomplished adventure film, with many a wonderful gag as the duo travel in search of the truth, but it is also his most genuinely heart-wrenching; with an efficiency that only makes its emotional moments cut all the more deep.
2. Asteroid City
Now we arrive at Anderson’s most recent film and, while it is worth praising fully, I shall withold how the movie all comes together to preserve the experience for those who have not yet seen it. Suffice to say, Asteroid City is one of the best films of the year. While it may lose many who are not on board with Wes’ style already, it is refreshing to see a director so devoted to going deeper into both his own approach and the ideas he has spent his career exploring. The basics of this science fiction-infused story are that it involves a small community, most notable for its proximity to a meteorite crater, which is going to be home to the Junior Stargazers conference. While Asteroid City looks outwards to the stars (as the visitors to the story are not just the ones traveling to the town by car), it’s also Anderson looking inward like he never has before. More than anything, Schwartzman’s role in the film is itself one of the many standouts in what the whole represents. The two have worked together since almost the very beginning and we have seen him grow up on camera from when he played the young Max Fischer until now. It makes for one of those movies that grows on you, deserving multiple viewings just to let it wash over you again and again.
1. The Royal Tenenbaums
We couldn’t end anywhere else than with The Royal Tenenbaums. It was Anderson’s first film that was truly great, showing how he was a storyteller whose vision could manifest in maddeningly melancholic snapshots of time. But it also holds up as his very best more than twenty years later. A portrait of the eccentric Tenenbaum family as they come together after scattering apart, each character is so fully painted that you feel like you can see them just walking down the street. From an introduction that sets the stage perfectly, to the many scenes where the image fades as the music rises in, everything is as precise as it is natural.
The goofy moments work just as well as the crushing ones, never once feeling like it is out of balance. It is a deceptively graceful film that confidently swings between the emotional highs and lows of life without ever feeling like it is losing control. Though comedies can often go underappreciated, The Royal Tenenbaums is one that shows how the best films out there can leave you struggling to breathe from laughter just before ripping your heart from your chest. Each joke from setup to punchline is as well-constructed as the emotional beats, ensuring everything flows together magnificently. Add to this a final performance from the now retired actor Gene Hackman, one that remains his best, The Royal Tenenbaums emerges as a cut above. Endlessly hilarious yet subtly haunting, it is the absolute pinnacle of an already towering body of Wes’ work.