San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
WES ANDERSON(-ISH) SCENES OFFER AN ESCAPE
With much of the arts moving to online and streaming platforms, here’s a look at a weekly standout:
My pick: “Accidentally Wes Anderson” and @accidentallywesanderson
Why: There are no accidents in a Wes Anderson movie. The director’s films, like “The Royal Tenenbaums” and “Moonrise Kingdom,” are so impeccably styled — everything from the wallpaper to the clothes are deliberately picked and placed just so.
But in real life, there are accidents. Like, if a mint green Volkswagen bus just happens to be parked in front of light pink beach cottages in Oceanside, you suddenly have a scene that looks like it’s straight out one of Anderson’s movies.
This phenomenon actually happens so often that there’s an Instagram account devoted to these happy coincidences: @accidentallywesanderson.
The page is a quirky landscape of colors, architecture and history. Fans of the page, known as “Adventurers,” submit photos — like a triangular hut in Kilimanjaro, or striped orange and white beach chairs in Italy — and along with the image, you also get a short history about Kilimanjaro mountaineering or vacationing on Lake Como. The account is so popular (over 1 million followers) that it’s being turned into a book by site founder Wally Koval,and it features an introduction by Anderson himself. Included in the book is the aforementioned photo from Oceanside alongside images of international hotels, railways and community centers.
And in this time — when travel is limited, and movie releases, including Anderson’s own “The French Dispatch,” are indefinitely postponed — it’s a small pleasure to escape for a few minutes into this fantastical, stylized version of the world.
Find it: Find photos on Instagram at @accidentallywesanderson. The book, “Accidentally Wes Anderson,” will be released Oct. 20 and can be purchased via online booksellers.
Pink cabins in Oceanside