For filmmakers, the work of Roald Dahl (1916-1990) is an inexhaustible source of inspiration. This is what Steven Spielberg filmed The BFG (Big Friendly Giant), became Charlie and the Chocolate Factory edited several times (the third film version with Timothée Chalamet will be released in December) and was given the musical status Matilda also a film adaptation last year.
Director Wes Anderson also had his eye on Dahl’s legacy. He made it in 2009 Fantastic Mr. Fox, a wonderful stop-animation film that left me wanting more. When Netflix approached him to film four of Dahl’s short stories, he didn’t hesitate for a moment.
The result is remarkable. Anderson found a way to fully honor Dahl’s text by having one of the characters speak directly to the viewer while reciting Dahl’s story almost word for word.
It is an alienating and funny effect that works perfectly, especially because of the original sets in which Anderson places the events. They are also so imaginatively executed that the temptation to watch it again is almost uncontrollable.
Although the stories are separate, it is better to focus on the longest, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (41 minutes), starting. Also because Dahl himself, played by Ralph Fiennes, is depicted writing and speaking. In the other films, which last seventeen minutes each, his role is modest.
Like Dahl’s fans – who previously wrote sixteen short stories in 1979 as the TV series Tales of the Unexpected have been made into a film – these inventions are far from commonplace. That’s how it goes Henry Sugar (a role played by Benedict Cumberbatch who appears in another episode) about a rich good-for-nothing who hears from a man (Ben Kingsley) who, through meditation, has the gift of seeing through everything. An excellent way to cheat at card games. Sugar appropriates this trick, but what he does next with the money is surprising.
The other three short films – TheSwan (a cruel bullying story), Poison (about a snake in bed) and The Rat Catcher (starring Ralph Fiennes as a human rat) – can be viewed in any order.
The cake is not finished yet. Netflix has bought the rights to Dahl’s complete oeuvre for $650 million. That bodes well.
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