Wes Anderson on Netflix: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Dfter its preview presentation at the last Venice Film Festival, from today it is available on Netflix The wonderful story of Henry Sugar. Short film of approximately forty minutes directed by Wes Anderson and drawn from a children’s story by Roald Dahl. In the cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph FiennesDev Patel and Ben Kingsley.

The wonderful story of Henry Sugarthe plot

Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch) he is a very rich man with a penchant for the gamble. One day reads a doctor’s diary (Dev Patel)written years earlier, which he describes the incredible case of a strange Indian patient, Imdad Khan (Ben Kingsley), able to see despite his eyes being closed, blindfolded or unable to see. The man then, over the years, develops other skills and ends up performing an incredibly profitable and successful act in a traveling circus. After carefully reading the diary, Henry understands that, by learning the same technique, he could easily break the bank in all the casinos in the world…

A film that was only half successful

Almost fifteen years after the animated film Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson returns to engage with the literature of Roald Dahl. English writer beloved for generations and author of masterpieces, almost all adapted for the big screen, such as The Chocolate FactoryMatilda And Witches. Creative and original in characters, plots and writing, Dahl was a rebellious, innovative and irreverent writer, as well as disrespectful (unlike many of his colleagues) towards the adult figures he wrote about. With a prose with almost Dickensian echoes, he created fantastic places with a strong inclination towards magic, which manifests itself within the urban world of the lower middle class or the working class.

It is therefore no coincidence that a director-creator of surreal and grotesque worlds like Anderson found elective affinities in Dahl’s books. But if in the past the author of The Tenenbaums had found the right balance between the development of a very personal style and a story attentive to the history and psychologies of the characters who inhabit it, The wonderful story of Henry Sugar seems to confirm it the stalemate of a poetic that is now a little too much an end in itself. Self there still remains a fascination for pastel colours, unlikely settings and the narrative game of Chinese boxesthe general impression is that Anderson has lost the taste for shaping his protagonists with the extravagant world that welcomes them. As if the American director was only interested in confirming the style of a well-established poetic and to replicate it endlessly.

Why see it

So what can be saved? The ability to gather an always excellent cast and willing to get involved – above all Benedict Cumberbatch and Ralph Fiennes – and the pleasure of seeing Dahl’s incredible stories on the screen once again. Furthermore, credit must be given to the director for still knowing how to produce curious meta-textual winks. In fact, for much of the film, we constantly see the stage tricks being used, the changing of the sets and set technicians entering the frame to arrange the décor. A choice that highlights the artificiality of the staging and that will certainly fascinate young spectators.

The other shorts coming to Netflix

The wonderful story of Henry Sugar it won’t be the only Wes Anderson film available on Netflix. It is in fact part of a larger project that includes others three titles, always taken from Dahl’s stories. In fact, from tomorrow it will be the turn of The Swanstory of an intelligent boy persecuted by two bullies mindless, with Ralph Fiennes and Asa Jennings. Then September 29th arrives The rat exterminatorfeaturing a professional rat exterminator and starring Richard Ayoade, Ralph Fiennes and Rupert Friend. Finally, September 30th will be the turn of Poisonin which a man finds a poisonous snake sleeping in his bed. The leading actors are the same as The wonderful story of Henry Sugar: Dev Patel, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes and Ben Kingsley.

The Wes Anderson exhibition at the Prada Foundation

On the occasion of the film’s release in theaters – September 28th Asteroid City, the Milanese art center welcomes in its spaces a unique experience for all fans of the American director. Housed in the North gallery of Fondazione Prada, the exhibition project includes a selection of original sets, props, models, costumes and works of art present in the film presented at the latest edition of the Cannes Film Festival. The selection of scenery elements is arranged in independent installations, each of which references a key scene from the filmwith a sequence that follows the plot almost faithfully.

Each section of the exhibition is associated with the audio track of the reference scene and the exhibition itinerary offers visitors the opportunity to create an autonomous narrative, moving freely between the various sequences of the exhibition and the film. Set in 1955 in a fictional American desert town, known for its meteorite crater and astronomical observatory, Asteroid City tells of a conference of young astronomers and space cadets. Which brings together students and parents from all over the country, shocked by some mysterious events that will change the world.

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