10 Aesthetically Pleasing “Accidental Wes Anderson” Moments People Have Captured In Real Life

If I had to choose a favorite film director, Wes Anderson just might take the cake. His quirky films are extremely aesthetically pleasing, often featuring deliberate symmetry and pastel color palettes, contain brilliant writing, and always leave me smiling as I’m exiting the theater. And if you’re a fan of Anderson’s work too, pandas, you’re in for a treat today!

Below, we’ve gathered some of our favorite posts from the Accidental Wes Anderson subreddit. This community features snapshots from real life that look like they could perfectly fit into the wild world of Wes Anderson, so we hope you’ll enjoy scrolling through the cinematic pics below. And keep reading to find conversations about Anderson’s signature style with journalist Nik Dirga and film expert Darren Mooney!

10 PHOTOS

#1 Path Of Dogs

#2 This Laundromat/Bar

#3 Room Service

To learn more about Wes Anderson’s signature style, we reached out to Nik Dirga, an American journalist based in New Zealand who’s very familiar with the director’s work. “I first came across Wes Anderson when I rented a VHS tape of Bottle Rocket on a whim way back in 1997 or so, and I've been a big fan ever since,” he told Pictolic. 

“I think what's always appealed to me the most about his style is the way he intricately crafts his worlds in a way that feels just a little askew from our reality, but still has an emotional heart. I still get choked up by The Life Aquatic every single time I watch it, for instance,” Nik noted.

#4 Montmartre Paris

#5 I Know This Sub Is Usually Buildings Or Scenery, But I Feel Like This Is Also Pretty Relevant

#6 I Just Saw This Pic

“[Anderson’s] style has kept on evolving, and his recent movies like Asteroid City and The French Dispatch are so heavily designed and mannered that they feel a bit more artificial than Rushmore,” Nik went on to explain. “But that's also kind of the point - he's been playing with the very idea of storytelling itself, drawing attention to the fact that what we see on screen is only a story rather than pretending it's a documentary portrait.”

#7 This House, And This Crosswalk

#8 Accidental Budapest Hotel

#9 Accidental Isle Of Dogs

Nik also shared that you can spot “Wes-style” anywhere you go once you’ve trained your eyes a bit. “Start looking beyond the surface of suburban sprawls of Costcos and Burger Kings, and you can find an offbeat beauty in everything up to a display of neon-yellow Cheetos containers at a Walmart,” he noted. 

“Wes fetishizes elements of reality but never entirely leaves reality behind. I think part of the reason Wes Anderson's style has become a meme is that it lets us pause a second and think, ‘Hey, that old grocery store logo is kind of gorgeous in its way, that thrift shop outfit makes you look a little like a movie star,’” Nik explained. “It lets us imagine real life as a movie.”

#10 Residential Block In Japan