Anderson's The French Dispatch is a love letter to art, and the piece on the imprisoned artist is a clever way for him to explore the exploitation of craft.

He intended The French Dispatch to be "a love letter to journalists" and fashioned Howitzer after famed long-time New Yorker editor Harold Ross, who led the publication up until his death.

October 28, 2021 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review… While perhaps The French Dispatch is not Anderson's most free-flowing film, it is an amalgamation of everything Anderson has put to film to date, drawing on his love of cartoons, newspapers and French culture (in particular cinema).

Angoulême, France Wandering the winding cobblestone streets of Angoulême, France, it is easy to be transported back in time. It is also very easy to see why the actual Wes Anderson chose this magical mini-metropolis as the backdrop of his tenth film, The French Dispatch.

And, while the eccentric characters the actors portray in The French Dispatch are fictional, they, like many aspects of the film, reflect some truth. The French Dispatch's true story is inspired by the real editor of the famous American magazine, The New Yorker, along with his staff and their stories.

The French Dispatch is nostalgic, a little weird, visually sumptuous - all characteristics that are far too uncommon in mainstream American film today. In a plot- and spoiler-obsessed film culture, he's the rare filmmaker who reminds people that movies are a primordially visual medium.

During the ending credits some covers of The French Dispatch through its history are shown. They were created by Spanish illustrator Javi Aznarez and were loosely inspired by The New Yorker's covers.

The French Dispatch is nostalgic, a little weird, visually sumptuous - all characteristics that are far too uncommon in mainstream American film today. In a plot- and spoiler-obsessed film culture, he's the rare filmmaker who reminds people that movies are a primordially visual medium.

Below, we rank every story from “The French Dispatch,” from the worst to the best.

1. The Private Dining Room of the Police Commissioner by Roebuck Wright.
2. The Concrete Masterpiece by J.K.L.
3. The Cycling Reporter by Herbsaint Sazerac.
4. Obituary by French Dispatch Staff.
5. Revisions to a Manifesto by Lucinda Krementz.

While even the characters of the film were based on New Yorker journalists and moments from the periodical's storied history, the magazine in the film itself had to have a very distinct identity. For a fictional magazine that actually doesn't even exist, The French Dispatch feels impossibly real.

Check out the list below.

• The Gold of Naples (Vittorio De Sica)
• Boudu Saved from Drowning (Jean Renoir)
• The Lower Depths (Jean Renoir)
• They Made Me a Fugitive (Alberto Cavalcanti)
• City Streets (Rouben Mamoulian)
• Shoot the Piano Player (François Truffaut)
• White Nights (Luchino Visconti)
• Life Dances On (Julien Duvivier)

The Real-Life Counterparts for Wes Anderson's French Dispatch Characters

• Arthur Howitzer, Jr. - Harold Ross.
• Herbsaint Sazerac - Joseph Mitchell.
• J.K.L. Berensen - S.N. Behrman, Rosamond Bernier.
• Julian Cadazio - Lord Duveen.
• Roebuck Wright - James Baldwin, A.J. Liebling.

The French Connection was a scheme through which heroin was smuggled from Indochina through Turkey to France and then to the United States and Canada. The operation started in the 1930s, reached its peak in the 1960s, and was dismantled in the 1970s.