The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Box Office: 48 million USD

My Rating: 10/10

Description: Based on the famous Roald Dahl book, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is really a story in a story in a story in a story. Roald Dahl (Ralph Fiennes) describes how Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch) stumbles upon the writings of Dr. Chatterjee (Dev Patel) on Imdad Khan (Ben Kingsley), the man who can see with his eyes closed. Fascinated, Henry teaches himself to do the same in the hopes of acquiring lots and lots of money. Then, something changes.

My Thoughts: Like Russian nesting dolls, each narrator builds upon the previous one to create this marvel of a film. With Wes Anderson as a director, it's no surprise that everything from the set design to the most mundane shot is stunning. The humour is subtle but so unexpectedly effective. The fourth wall breaks were timed to near perfection and left me, an admittedly amateur audience member, quite impressed. As a massive Roald Dahl fan (and yes, he is a character), I appreciated the care and attention to detail used to construct this movie. The opening scene, set in his writing hut, is accurate down to there being exactly six pencils in his cup. Even his mannerisms, like the semi-frequent chocolate consumption, were right. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar toes the line between reality and fiction in a way that encourages the audience to wonder, just for a second, could this have really happened? There's something lovely about choosing to believe that Henry Sugar and Imdad Khan and John Winston and Dr. Chatterjee are all non-fiction, all possible. In forty minutes, this film will take your breath away. It is beautiful, funny, and soothingly optimistic. Whether you've read the original book or not, you won't leave disappointed.

Best Line: "I didn't do anything illegal, did I?"

"Illegal? You're an idiot!"