The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Available on Netflix now

Netflix’s acquisition of the Roald Dahl Story Company for an eye-watering $686 million means that we would be wise to expect further adaptations of the author’s work to follow from the studio in the coming years. Last year’s Matilda the Musical was a commercial and critical success, and this interpretation of one of Dahl’s lesser-known works is also something of a minor treasure.

Written, co-produced, and directed by Wes Anderson, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is a charming parable that is charged by a fastidious performance from Benedict Cumberbatch and underpinned by the work of a stellar supporting cast that includes Ben Kingsley, Dev Patel, Ralph Fiennes, and Richard Ayoade. Though the live action nature of this short contrasts with Anderson’s only other previous Dahl adaptation (2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox), the director and his long-term DP Robert Yeoman’s trademark brand of meticulously curated quirkiness once again proves a seamless stylistic and tonal fit.

There are three other Anderson-directed Dahl adaptations - The Swan, The Rat Catcher, and Poison - for die-hards to sink their teeth into, with the success of this short-form experimentation raising interesting questions about how we might consume streamed cinematic content in the near future.