Wes Anderson Directs Holiday-Season Digital Short Film For H&M

On YouTube, Wes Anderson has kicked off the holiday season with a fun little commercial. The filmmaker, known for whimsical, quaint movies like Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel, teamed up with retailer H&M for a branded video called “Come Together,” which delivers plenty of holiday cheer.

“Come Together” stars frequent Anderson collaborator Adrien Brody as the conductor of a train that runs into delays on Christmas Eve. Since his passengers will miss their Yuletide appointments, he decides to a range a holiday celebration in his train’s dining car. This is a Wes Anderson creation, so there are plenty of elegant shots, pithy exchanges, and delightful costumes (outfitted by H&M, naturally) over the course of its four-minute runtime.

While the holidays are always a time for wintry cheer, “Come Together” reminds us that such pleasantries will be particularly important during the 2016 holiday season. “This story may resonate more than ever at a time in the world where we could all do with giving a stranger a hug,” said Brody in a press release.

Anderson is no stranger to branded content. Back in 2013, he enlisted another one of his actor friends, Jason Schwartzman, for a short film called “Castello Cavalcanti,” which was sponsored by Prada. Given his particular style, Anderson is a good partner for clothing brands; in my ideal world, he directs all of their digital shorts.