I had to do a double-take after reading on Stereogum today that indie-country troubadour Will Oldham, a.k.a. Bonnie "Prince" Billy, had lashed out at director Wes Anderson’s "completely cancerous approach to using music" in his movies. Cancerous? Really? That quote came from a longer interview with The Onion A.V. Club in which Oldham referred to Anderson as "the cancer that is that Darjeeling guy," then accused his methods of amounting to, "basically, ‘Here’s my iPod on shuffle, and here’s my movie.’ The two are just thrown together." As one of my EW co-workers retorted upon reading this: "Jeez, I like Wes Anderson’s use of music in movies so much more than anything Oldham has ever done (and I like Oldham)."
I’m not sure I’d go quite that far. (I See a Darkness is pretty awesome!) Oldham’s making a very weird argument here, though. Anderson is justly renowned for his skill at picking the perfect song to accentuate the emotions in a given scene. Think of the way he used Elliott Smith’s harrowing "Needle in the Hay" in The Royal Tenenbaums (below — warning, graphic imagery), or the Rolling Stones’ "I Am Waiting" in Rushmore, or Seu Jorge’s Bowie covers in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. Anderson has certain arguable flaws as a filmmaker, and Oldham isn’t obligated to love his movies by any means, but those sequences are definitely not the work of a lazy dude pressing "shuffle"!
Or maybe I’m over-reacting. What do you think of Oldham’s critique? Do you have a favorite Wes Anderson music moment?
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What a bizarre attack on one artist I really like by another! I get what Oldham is saying, that there should be more good original music in the movies, but Anderson is great at using existing songs and so there’s nothing wrong with that either.
this man is clearly not a film buff. Anderson is heavily influenced by the film Harold and Maude which only used Cat Stevens music. Anderson not only borrows the quirky odd ball character esthetic but also almost solely uses 60′s and 70′s brit pop like Cat Stevens. I think his music choices are pitch perfect.
Who the hell is Will Oldham? Wes Anderson’s genius maybe hit or miss (Life Aquatic), but there is no denying his music choice is spot on. Find another aspect of Anderson’s stuff to nit-pick.
Favorite Wes Anderson music moment?Margot getting off the bus and walking in slow motion to Nico’s “These Days” in The Royal Tenenbaums immmediately comes to mind, but really I have dozens of favorites. Anderson’s music choices have always been pitch perfect.
I kind of buy this critique. I’ve always thought his movies were basically one continuous dj selection – his music isn’t the perfect complement, it’s a crutch to hide the film’s lack. The music brings the inspiration the images can’t sustain – it’s like a music video.
The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my favorite movies of all time, so I’m always on Wes’ side. I never thought about it, but I guess “Needle in the Hay” is my favorite song choice.
I love both of these guys SOOOO much. I’m embracing the dissonance! I can totally see what Billy means: oftentimes Anderson’s movies *do* amount to glorified music videos, but, in Wes’s defense, they’re amazing glorified music videos, and he always picks the perfect song. Also, I love the relatively small pool of music he consistently chooses from. And the Bonnie ‘Prince’ is an amazing musician who created instantly classic albums of acoustic Appalachian indie goodness for more than a decade now. They’re both great artists.