http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgDKtLPp46s
in Fallen Angels
I’ll go with the ironic use of “Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon” in Pulp Fiction. It’s a Neil Diamond song, which is the epitome of cheese, but covered by the Chicago duo Urge Overkill, which gives it a cool factor.
Very effective use of this song, as it telegraphs the fact that Mia Wallace is about to receive a sobering life lesson.
Cheers,
Steve
CinemaUprising.blogspot.com
American Psycho uses Phil Collins/Genesis to great effect as well as some other 80s bubble gum songs.
Genesis made bubble gum songs? Wat. Do any of you people even listen to music?
Oh man, I’VE TOLD EVERY LITTLE STAR…the BEST!
Yeah, it’s like, I once read a review of AMERICAN PSYCHO that claimed the use of pop music in the movie deliberately expressed the mediocrity of the character.
And all I could think was, “I need more Huey Lewis on my mp3 player.”
Donovan’s “Colors” in “Poor Cow”
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) by Sinatra is far from mediocre, in fact, it kicks the original’s ass in a major way … besides, was her version popular when it came out?
Lou Reed de-cheesed what I always think of as a Jay & the Americans (cheesy) song, even though it was first recorded by Ben E. King and the Drifters (NOT cheesy), but Lynch elevated yet another notch:
“hurdy gurdy man” in *Zodiac"
The Cars’ “Moving in Stereo” in Fast Times at Ridgemont High
“happy together” by the turtles in Christophe Honoré’s ‘Ma Mere’
“california dreamin’ " in Wong Kar Wai’s ‘Chungking Express’
“bluest eyes in texas” in ‘Boys don’t cry’
and probably the whole ‘thelma & louise’ soundtrack
“crazy on you” by Heart in ‘the Virgin Suicides’ of Sofia Coppola
“tous les garçons et les filles” in ‘The Dreamers’ of Bernardo Bertolucci and suprisingly in ‘Attenberg’ of Athina Rachel Tsangari (which was a great idea)
A lot of these songs are not mediocre, which is part of why they worked so well to begin with aside from just their apt pairing with a particular scene.
“California Dreamin’”, “Bang Bang”, “Stuck in the Middle with You” are good songs.
“And Then He Kissed Me” and “Happy Together” are great.
Matt, that Lost Highway scene is almost obscenely powerful. I still don’t quite understand its appeal, but it’s one of my favorite Lynch scenes.
Yeah, Jack. It’s interesting. It occurred to me that most directors would have gone all-out to maximize the sexiness of that scene . There’s some of that with Lynch, it’s seductive, certainly, but there’s also a scariness to it, a faintly demonic quality to it that’s in a weird way almost as seductive as the as the conventionally sexy stuff (which pretty much limited to her eyes and a little toss of the hair . . . interestingly Lynch avoids getting her body in the frame almost entirely). This magic moment is black magic, I think.
I agree. I usually don’t go for slow-mo, rock music scenes. But Lynch’s craft here is excellent. I particularly love the lighting.
I don’t really see it as being demonic, even subtly. She’s sexy in an icy, bad girl way, sure, but I wouldn’t call the tone itself of the shot demonic. More just surreal and ethereal. What makes the shot disorienting and unusual is its floating quality. Because of the tight, unflinching framing, the lack of corresponding shots from her pov, and the mostly empty, white background once she steps out of the car, you aren’t given a sense for where she’s looking or how she’s navigating the space. It’s like she’s some ambient entity, everywhere and nowhere, looking at and past the protagonist/viewer.
Also, that song is good on its own, the Lou Reed cover at least. I have it on my computer.
@Cinematic cteve
I love the way that song used in Pulp Fiction, really heightened a great scene.
Say what you will about QT, but you have to grant he has a natural, ORIGINAL gift for knowing how to pair a song and scene (often ironically) to get the proper tone across. His use of music is one of my favorite things about his movies.
OMG I just watched thsen scene from Lost Highway again, wow what gives that seemingly simple scene so much power?!? What does it take to get everything to come together perfectly: her beauty,the lighting-colors-DOF,the slow motion, editing to the music, the lyrics,car etc?
One of the most powerful scenes of the last 50 years of cinema. If only more cinema had soul like this.
Or are we all being tricked by a cynical director like Two Plus Two says, and without the music,the scene would simply collapse?
So far the most correct answer has been Sister Christian in Boogie Nights. And also, if including TV, Don’t Stop Believin in The Sopranos (though I know that there are a lot of Journey fans out there).
But Sister Christian in BN was just so perfect, and gave that scene exactly the bump over the edge to make it great. An ex-coworker and myself would always joke about firing up a big crack rock when that song came on the radio. Everyone else gave us strange looks :)
I Get Around – Three Kings
Take My Breath Away – Ocean’s Eleven
@elmer_fishsticks – I didn’t say that Genesis was the bubblegum, it was the Huey Lewis song I was talking about.
“Hip to Be Square,” yeah, and the band was apparently upset enough with the way the song was used in the film to prevent it from appearing on the soundtrack (Whitney Houston’s people at least had the foresite to prevent her song from appearing in the film at all). Genesis, Patrick is clear, he only understood after they stopped being “too artsy,” so while “bubblegum” might not be the right term for the from Duke on, they were certainly increasingly pop-orientated from 1980 on.
Sort of the reverse of music getting new life via “cheesy” films: not sure if white guys trying to sing soul meets the burdon of proof for “cheesy,” but the Righteous Brothers’ music certainly got new life with this:
and this:
Re Alfred Molina in Boogie Nights -
Why is it that a visit to your drug dealer always includes them subjecting you to their awful taste in music? It’s true.
@ Matt: Unchained Melody was definitely revived by Ghost, but it is neither cheesy nor mediocre. I would personally say that Ghost is closer to cheesy or mediocre than that song :)
chills. actually i loved this song when i was like 12
atrocity exhibition
air supply – all out of love in animal kingdom