.
I forgot to mention the score of Amelie, which is an integral part of the film, almost serving as its own character.
I agree with David Lincoln Brooks’s observation about Maurice Jarre’s theme to Eyes without a Face. Reminds me of the score to Resnais’s Le Nuit et Le Broulliard, very light, litling melody counterpointing the awful images.
First film I thought of though was The Third Man and Anton Karas’s zither music.
There’s at least one VERY similar thread on music also available on theauteurs.com People ought to use the SEARCH function before posting a new thread.
That said, I’ll repeat what I said there:
Gustav Mahler in Death in Venice and The Gambler.
Mozart in Elvira Madigan.
and ALL of Ken Russell’s biopics of composers, particularly MAHLER.
Toru Takemitsu is generally overlooked and has written some very compelling original scores.
“Woman in the Dunes” is a favorite.
Mishima
Paris, Texas
There Will Be Blood
A Single Man
Popul Vuh – Aguirre I
2001, especially the Danube Waltz and Lygeti.
Maurice Jarre’s Lawrence of Arabia for its majestic sweep and swirl (also like his fairground work on Les Yeux Sans Visage).
On a different note, La Bete for its tinkling, Scarlatti harpsichord score as the heroine is chased up hill and down dale by the lustful beast. Fanciful yet horrific all at once.
Actually, whilst in list mode, John Barry’s work on The Lion in Winter – polyphonic chanting a good few years before The Omen – plus any number of his brass n’ horns Bond scores.
Kryzstof Komeda’s “Lullaby” theme to ROSEMARY’S BABY is very evocative…. It plays at the beginning, as the camera surveys New York City and finally zeroes in on The Dakota.
Nothing in the elegantly gray visuals or hot-pink titles seems to foreshadow evil or pain…… but that very sad, very strange lullaby (with uneven phrase-lengths and bizarre dissonances) tells us something is very wrong in this scenario…
What about music that does not ‘enhance’ what’s going on but deliberately undercuts it? Like the rape scene to ‘Singing in the Rain’ in Clockwork Orange and the ear cutting/torture scene to ‘Stuck in the middle with you’ in Reservoir Dogs? In both cases horrific actions are juxtaposed with light-hearted, comic even, music which has the effect of inevitably distancing us from the horror on screen. Maybe it even positions us to collude with the perpetrator – whose jocular attitude the music seems to favour. But does it ultimately horrify us more…?
>The only movie I can think of right now without any music is Cache. Are there any others, and what do you guys think about when to use music?
See this article re Carter Burwell’s damned-near-subliminal score for No Country For Old Men.
>>The only movie I can think of right now without any music is Cache. Are there any others, and what do you guys think about when to use music?<<
Omitting early sound films, like FRANKENSTEIN, there are a few. YELLOW SKY comes to mind; no music beyond the title track. There aren’t many, though, for as Bernard Herrmann observed, “No one seems to know why movies need music, but they do.”
Michael Kamen’s score for Brazil is undoubtedly one of the greatest things I have ever heard in the cinema.
Army of Shadows
Ryuichi Sakamoto for Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and The Last Emperor.
Also, anything Joe Hisaishi does especially with Kitano or Miyazaki.
Michael Nyman for The Piano
Philip Glass for The Thin Blue Line
I’m a film score freak, some of my favorite (and very effective) scores:
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) – by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
- The Fountain (2006), Moon (2009), Black Swan (2010), – Clint Mansell
- Sunshine (2007) – John Murphy
- The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010) – Hans Zimmer (his recent work has been great)
- Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Synecdoche, New York (2008) – Jon Brion
- There Will Be Blood (2007) – Jonny Greenwood
- The Social Network (2010) – Trent Reznor & Aticus Ross
I could go on… and of course there are some classics that are unforgettable, like Nino Rota’s Godfather scores, Herman’s Taxi Driver score, etc.
Use of music and/or silence is integral in a film, and these scores specifically are pretty freakin’ immersive. I listen to them regularly.
I have to say that most classic movies have film scores that were recycled (Billy Wilder admitted to being very cheap) and all of those violins late at night scare the crap out of me because I forget how loud they are!
Arrietty had a GORGEOUS musical score which was incredibly complimentary to the movie and really intensified the serenity of the movie.
The Pianist was great because the music had the utmost relevancy to the film but if I remember correctly, a lot of the film seemed to be silent? Which I think actually adds to when there was music — you felt the gratification the character did upon playing and I think that’s nicer with the content matter because bombastic music would make it seem melodramatic when the whole tale of survival in terms of The Pianist is supposed to be more detached, colder, dormant and restless.
Romeo and Juliet (1968) – So appropriate for the era and whatever scenes different variations underscore! Really added to the whole perception of Romeo and Juliet actually being an older tale in Italy.
Revolutionary Girl Utena – Just like the series, the dueling scenes have this amazing operatic-like choir singing and it gives it a very spiritual quality.
Alex Klinger
The Good the Bad and the Ugly has the best score of all time. In recent memory, There Will Be Blood’s score added to the film greatly. Probably the best to come out in a while.