What is it about Wes Anderson films that movie buffs love most? Is it the host of quirky characters played by top-tier cast members? Is it the blend of melancholic themes with oddly specific contextual comedy? The saturated, obsessive, painterly composition in every one of his shots? Or is it the list of killer songs that accompany and define all of his movies, offering jubilant iPod additions as well as characterisations to the films? In honor of the release of Wes Andersons new feature The Grand Budapest Hotel - which looks to be the directors most idiosyncratic work yet - here are 8 unforgettably distinctive scenes from Andersons films that are characterised by the directors pitch-perfect choice in music selection. These scenes are so unique they could only have come from the one-of-a-kind mind of Anderson, and are complimented by sublime soundtrack choices that become inextricably associated with Andersons images forever after...
8. "Petey's Song" (Jarvis Cocker) - Fantastic Mr. Fox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4FyZwAFZII Alexandre Desplat's bouncy score is as much a character in this stop-motion animated film as are the songs, but Petey's Song, performed by Jarvis Cocker, manages to steal the show where the songs are concerned. As Mr. Fox (George Clooney) and his anthropomorphic thief friends burrow underground to steal from the stores of greedy farmers Bogus, Bunce, and Bean, this song captures the whimsy of Roald Dahl's writing and Anderson's oeuvre at the same time. Petey, an invented animated character of the movie who does not appear in the book, nevertheless fits the viscera extremely well, as do the bopping, harmonica-playing farmhands singing with him. He strums his banjo and comments on the actions of Mr. Fox and his friends in the way that Dahl would have in his book. Petey himself is a certain personal assistant of Farmer Bean's (Michael Gambon), you see, who Bean later critiques for poor songwriting. Personally, I thought it was a rather delightful romp.
