The French Dispatch Comes To Blu-Ray And Digital In December
"The French Dispatch," the latest bit of melancholy whimsy from Wes Anderson, is now in theaters. However, if you find yourself unable to return to the movies and still want to check this one out, here's some good news: it's coming to Blu-ray soon. And I mean very soon. As in next month. The digital release for the film will arrive on December 14, 2021, with the Blu-ray and DVD release following not long after. Sadly, there's no 4K release, which seems like a missed opportunity considering Anderson's love of scrumptious visuals. Then again, you have to wonder: will this eventually get a Criterion Collection release like every other Wes Anderson feature? Or will Disney put the kibosh on that idea? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
On Blu-ray and Digital This December
It's official: "The French Dispatch" is coming to digital on December 14, 2021, before heading to Blu-ray and DVD on December 28, 2021. That seems relatively quick considering the movie started its theatrical run on October 22, 2021. That said, I haven't had a chance to see this yet, and don't think I will anytime soon, so I welcome this home video release. However, there's a pretty big catch here: there's not a single special feature included on the disc. Not even a lousy trailer! That could mean one of two things. One is that Disney, owners of the film, doesn't really care much about giving the film a proper release. Or it could mean that, like every Wes Anderson movie before this, "The French Dispatch" will eventually hit the Criterion Collection, complete with special features.
However, there's no guarantee that the flick is going down the Criterion path, so this might be the only chance you have to scoop this up on home video. In "The French Dispatch," Wes Anderson
brings to life a collection of stories from the final issue of an American magazine published in the fictional 20th-century French city of Ennui-sur-Blasé. With an all-star cast that includes Benicio Del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Stephen Park, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson, this vibrant film is a funny, moving celebration of journalism.
The stacked cast includes Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Stephen Park, Bill Murray, and Owen Wilson, as well as Liev Schreiber, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan, Elisabeth Moss, Jason Schwartzman, Christoph Waltz, and Anjelica Huston.
In her /Film review, Hoai-Tran Bui wrote:
To call "The French Dispatch" a visual feast feels like a gross understatement — a visual assault might be more accurate. But it's one that is less about assaulting the senses than it is about overloading it — each frame of the film is packed to the gills with stuff. All the same, while "assault" might suggest something violent and unpleasant, "The French Dispatch" is nothing but pleasant to look at in the most Andersonian way. All of Anderson's stylistic quirks are turned up to 11 in this film; his pop-up book aesthetic, but one where each page explodes with glitter and flowers and tinny saxophone music, and somehow, real fireworks. It's like the pristine art of a New Yorker cover crossed with the chaos of a "Where's Waldo" picture: oversaturated and overstuffed and artificial and absolutely delightful to behold.