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The Wes Anderson Christmas Commercial

December 2nd, 2016 · 1 Comment · Movies

It has been out only a few days, but the quirky director Wes Anderson is getting rave reviews for his latest piece of work.

It is an uplifting and very Wes Anderson commercial set on a train and starring Adrien Brody as Conductor Ralph, three minutes and 52 seconds in length, for the Swedish clothing chain H&M.

Some of the reviews.

With Anderson’s trademark symmetry and composition, it looks fantastic and packs a real emotional punch. — Adam Boult, The Telegraph

… “the spot oozes Anderson’s signature cinematic style as it tells a story of compassion and coming together for the festive season.” — campaignlive.co.uk

“an homage to the creative genius of Anderson“. — Huffington Post

We are seeing various shorter bits of the “film”, here in France. It runs in English, with French subtitles.

And what we have seen of it prompted me to search out its provenance. I did not know Wes Anderson directed it, but I remarked early on, “That commercial really reminds me of The Grand Budapest Hotel.” Which I loved. The vivid palette, in particular.

Perhaps the most thorough analysis of the “Come Together” commercial — and Anderson has done others in the past — is to be found here in The Guardian. This is the piece that notes that all the passengers have posted photographs, one of the photos containing a dog, notes that the kid is denoted as an “Unaccompanied minor” and suggests that George Clooney perhaps did a voice-over of Conductor Ralph — because it sure sounds like Clooney.

I appreciate that H&M keeps its participation in the commercial to a discrete minimum. At its start we see “H&M Lines Winter Express” on the side of the train. Then there is a small logo in the bottom-right corner of the picture, as the commercial continues.

H&M is flogging clothes, of course, but we are left to figure out that the passengers on the train are wearing H&M fashions.

Have a look, if you have not already seen it.

At this writing, the 3:52 extended version has been viewed more than 6 million times.

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1 response so far ↓

  • 1 Cineast // Dec 4, 2016 at 4:01 AM

    Love Wes Anderson. Can’t wait for his next movie. Thanks for sharing

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