The wiki TV Tropes states that tropes are conventions or devices. They are not cliches since cliches are dull, and Wes Anderson is never that. So, does The Grand Budapest Hotel get a full house in Slate magazine’s Wes Anderson Bingo? Tick them off one by one.
Yellow titles
How visually sated are you right now? This title card makes us want to yell “Bingo!” immediately.
Sibling rivalry
Not sibling-based, the plot hinges on family rivalry over inheriting one relative’s painting. For a game of trope bingo this is a worryingly tenuous start. *Jason Schwartzman face*
Binoculars
Not strictly binoculars, but we are getting closer to the canon. And the presence of the miniature handwritten note on textured paper is so Andersonesque as to make this essentially a trope magnified by a trope. And that’s no bad thing.
Stylish neckwear
The design of The Grand Budapest Hotel is perhaps Anderson’s most ambitious effort yet and, true to impeccable form, the neckwear is not found wanting.
Pajamas
Striped prison pyjamas, right?
Personal letter
To elaborate would entail spoilers but rest assured, fans of the personal-letter trope will not be disappointed. It’s even written by a character with a top-notch name. In fact, it makes a guest appearance in the next image.
Symmetrical framing
We hate to reduce the magnificence of bald, tattooed Harvey Keitel to a framing trope but, by gosh, what a frame.
Tan suit jacket
It’s not technically a suit jacket, but we think Saoirse Ronan’s tan number hits this trope nail on the head.
Plinking harpsichord music
Almost the entire soundtrack is by Alexandre Desplat, so we’re going to assume it reeks of harpsichord. There’s definitely some in the trailer.
1960s Britpop
Think This Time Tomorrow by the Kinks from The Darjeeling Limited. This square is too boxed-in for our liking. It disqualifies classics such as Me and Julio by Paul Simon in the Royal Tenenbaums and even Van Morrison’s Everyone in the same film.
All that aside, the new film marks a genuine departure for Anderson with a seemingly pop-free soundtrack.
Amusement vehicle
Admittedly, we have no idea what an “amusement vehicle” is. A go-kart? Or a fire engine? (See: The Royal Tenenbaums)
Just as we started to feel hot under the collar about it, this little beauty appeared on screen. It answered the question we didn’t know we were asking.
Overhead shot/crash zoom
We're not entirely convinced by the overhead shot trope. Perhaps it refers to shots of beautiful documents – maps, fingerprint sheets and the like – but we'd like to substitute it for the arguably stronger crash-zoom trope.
Beret
From the trailer alone it’s clear this film is a milliner’s wet dream. Again this square feels a little restrictive so we're going to modify it to “Stylish headwear” and power on.
Owen Wilson
That wonky face is calm personified amid hysterical levels of Andersonness.
Jason Schwartzman
A trope evolves: Schwartzman is the origin of the precocious child trope (see: Rushmore). Now the actor himself has become one. Next in line for its own box – his recurrent expression of bemused melancholy.
Bill Murray
Blume, St Clair, Zissou, The Businessman, Badger, Mr Bishop and now Ivan. Was there ever any doubt?
Absent parent
Tilda Swinton’s character, Madame D, becomes absent by dying, leaving her son, played by Adrien Brody, suitably upset.
Brody has pedigree for this from his role in The Darjeeling Limited, while Gene Hackman set the bar for absent parents as the eponymous Royal Tenenbaum.
Precocious child
Baby-faced Zero is married in this film. Yet he appears not much older than lovelorn Sam, the precocious child in 2012’s Moonrise Kingdom.
Eric Anderson artwork
Eric’s art is often seen in his brother’s films. However, we’re not convinced the painting featured on our bingo card is by Eric, since he is better known for his intricate illustrations (see: The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr Fox).
Nevertheless, the painting on the card evokes The Grand Budapest Hotel’s Boy With Apple, so whoever painted them, it’s a trope.
Bathrobe
One of these characters is in the bath, the other is wearing some kind of robe. Sure, Wes Anderson might be pedantic, but we aren’t.
Full house denied
No Kumar Pallana or Luke Wilson but plenty of Jeff Goldblum, Willem Defoe and Edward Norton, all of whom deserve their own squares at this point.
According to this sheet, we are also lacking children’s theatre and slow-mo shot to music, though we're confident the latter will feature, so we're being very Mr Fox about it – ie as cool as a cucumber.
... and finally
- In recognition of Anderson’s stylised performance trademarks and gift for directing deadpan comedy, we propose a new box for the inevitable moment one character abruptly runs away from an otherwise motionless scene.
- There are enough great character names in this film to sink the Belafonte.
- There are many more Wes Anderson tropes – what did we miss?
- This article was amended on 28 February 2014 to credit the online magazine Slate with the Wes Anderson Bingo game. The earlier version omitted to credit Slate, because of a misunderstanding that the game was created by the website TVtropes.org
