2023 has been a huge year for movies. The year opened with acclaimed blockbusters such as M3GAN, Cocaine Bear, and Scream VI. Across the Spider-Verse, Barbie, and Oppenheimer lended themselves to a phenomenal summer for theatergoers. This October is the next big movie month. Killers of the Flower Moon and Five Nights at Freddy’s will land in the weeks before Halloween. However, between these two seasons, one short film slipped beautifully into the digital world.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar was a Roald Dahl book before Netflix snagged it. The story was then thrown to writer and director Wes Anderson. This turned out to be an excellent decision. Henry Sugar is not Anderson’s first Roald Dahl adaptation. 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox takes that role. In fact, this isn’t even Anderson’s first film of the year. In June, Asteroid City was released to great success. This, along with the success of almost all his previous works, is thanks in part to Anderson’s unique style. Symmetry, color, and shape are everything in an Anderson production. Choose any frame, and you will be able to pick up minute details in the composition and set.
Henry Sugar takes this to another level. The whole film seems to be designed around unique sets paired with bright colors. Production of the film began in early 2022, over a year and a half ago, with the original intent to be a feature length film. However, it soon changed to be a collection of short films. Henry Sugar is not the only film of Anderson’s that was released on June 16th. Three others, The Swan, The Ratcatcher, and Poison were all 20 minute adaptations of stories by Mr. Dahl.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar clocks in at 37 minutes long, but it feels like a full length film, thanks to its rapid pace. This is a movie one would want to watch twice, in order to pick up on the patterns throughout the production. The story is about a bored millionaire named Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch) who discovers a man that can see without using his eyes (Ben Kingsley). Naturally, the millionaire decides that he could use this skill by cheating in blackjack. The movie is, as the title suggests, Wonderful.
Henry Sugar received a 7.4/10 on IMDb. On Rotten Tomatoes, it got a 95% from critics and an 82% by audiences. It, and its three accompanying films, are all available on Netflix.
Photo Credit: Netflix.com
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