I have not watched any films made by Wes Anderson, so I don’t know if it’s his style of making movie or it’s just in The Grand Budapest Hotel. The movie really gave me a sense of a theatre like production on stage: the acting from every character and especially the non-diegetic sound which really helps with building up the tension of the plot and just the audience more focused with what the characters are doing. I really wanted to emphasize on the music, it is really an important part of the film and the choices and timing of it are both really great. Just a few key scenes to point out: when all the people are waiting for Kovacs to announce the death will of Madame D, when Gustav and Zero is chasing Jopling in the snow skiing, when Gustav and the other are breaking out of the prison, when Dimitri is chasing Agatha with the painting almost at the end, just to name a few. The movie started with a drastic setting, both location and time changes, to build up the initial story telling. From mostly modern time with a statue of the author, to the author in his old age speaking, to the out-dated age of the Grand Budapest hotel, and finally when the story really happened in 1932. Much of the story telling made in the film is from the narrator’s perspective, either from the writer or the old Zero. The two of them are having a meal together when old Zero told the writer most of the history of how he got the hotel. I think the purpose of it is to make the audience and the writer in the same shoes, listening to the story together. The outside narrative also made it easier for the director to convey a lot of the information and how characters feel in an easier way.
In terms Mise-en-scene, color is the most important element that stand out to me. In different locations, the hotel, Madame D’s place, the prison, every place has different themes of color. Especially in the hotel, everyone has many colorful clothings and warm lighting, all the aesthetic designs and choices, that are high contrast with the cold weather outside.

Another point of contrast is when they three of them are on the train the second time as Gustav got killed by the soldiers, the entire scene was in black and white. I do believe that is something Wes Anderson wanted to convey and hint to the theme of the movie about civilization, it is ended as Gustav died. And this is the area where I wanted to get more clear about, the deeper meaning behind character’s action, what they symbolizes of civilization and war, and the relationship between Gustav and Zero.