The film “Bottle Rocket” was directed by Wes Anderson, a well known director in the industry. Created in 1996, the film’s cast included Luke Wilson (Anthony) and Owen C. Wilson (Dignan) as the main characters, portrayed as best friends on an adventure to find themselves. Throughout the entirety of the film, the main focus was the mise-en-scène utilized by Wes Anderson.
To begin, the plot of the film begins with Anthony leaving a mental hospital to find his strange friend, Dignan was eagerly waiting to begin their adventure of an outrageous crime spree. They recruit their neighbor Bob, and soon, they start on their journey to find Dignan’s previous boss, Mr. Henry. While on their adventure, the team realizes the very little they know about crime.
While watching the film, I enjoyed the mise-en-scène the director utilized. The film was colorful and had warmth to it, creating an enjoyable experience for the viewers. Although the film was very slow with the plot, It was able to build up as time progressed and turn into a quality film.
Throughout the entirety of the film, Thematic content was used to add to the effect displayed by the director. First off, mise-en-scène was a major technique used in the film. Wes Anderson seemed to intentionally use a majority of primary colors in every scene of the film. Dignan was normally wearing yellow throughout the entire film, and Anthony was always wearing red. Bob, who wasn’t an important character in the film, would normally wear black, showing his lack of significance compared to Anthony and Dignan. Also, the lightning was a major element.
Each scene would have a well lit setting, which normally left a feeling of warmth. This was used to show the innocence in each scene because there wasn’t too much fighting or sadness implemented in the plot of the film.
The only darker scene was when Anthony and Dignan were fighting in the middle of nowhere after their car broke down, displaying the change in feeling in the characters. Furthermore, The camera work in the film usually consisted of wide shots contained 2 or more people. The director did this to display the varying colors in the characters, especially between Dignan, Anthony, and Bob.
Another use of content was class. Bob’s older brother was presented as a snobby, rich character that would constantly look down on Bob and hsu friends for being less wealthy. This would come back to bite him when Mr. Henry gave him a piece of his mind, placing a different perspective of his surroundings in his mind.
Overall, the film contained many elements worth tuning into. Although the film progresses well as time goes on, I wouldn’t recommend watching it unless you have time on your hands. The 2 hour adventure take a while to get interesting, but the content used by Wes Anderson makes it a great choice if you wanted to focus on certain thematic elements, such as mise-en-scène.
