Wes Anderson (Close-Ups, Book 1)

The indispensable, illustrated pocket guide to the films of Wes Anderson, from Bottle Rocket to Isle of Dogs.

Wes Anderson is a distinctive auteur of modern American cinema, known for having created a personal universe out of pastel colour palettes, meticulous set design, nostalgic soundtracks and a troupe of familiar actors – all seen in films such as Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Isle of Dogs.

In this illustrated pocket guide Sophie Monks Kaufman delves beneath Anderson’s pristine surfaces to examine his emotional preoccupations with family, romance, failure, adventure and death. She carefully unspools the cultural threads that inform his aesthetic to explain why this precocious arthouse film nerd from Texas has become one of the most popular directors of his generation.

Sophie Monks Kaufman is contributing editor at Little White Lies and a freelancer with a special interest in covering film from a sensual and feminist perspective. Her writing is published at Sight & Sound and the Independent amongst others. She enjoys waxing lyrical on audio forms, like the Truth & Movies podcast, and in person at panels and cinemas, most regularly the British Film Institute.