Soundtracks Matter: Time to Settle the Score

By John Mallory

As it gets closer to Oscar night, movie fans and film critics will continue to discuss who will be rewarded or disappointed by this year's Academy Awards. People naturally focus on what they consider to be the "major" awards. (Best Director, Best Picture, Best Leading Actress, etc) But I want to focus on the real magic of the movies... the music. It's true that directors went to film school and actors occasionally have some type of "craft" that is usually wasted on cell phone commercials, but the beautiful, uplifting, sad, frightening, and euphoric musical themes not only compliment what we're watching, but also shape and control our entire theatrical experience. A poorly scored movie is a waste of time. A film who's music encapsulates the raw and sometimes inexpressible emotions of both the characters and audience is nothing short of magic.

This year's Oscar nominations for Best Original Score provide an interesting sample of some of the best movie music of 2009. First let's look at James Horner's nomination for "Avatar". Horner is a powerful composer who is increasing his stronghold on Hollywood's music having already composed for such films as "Legends of the Fall", "Braveheart", "Apollo 13", "Titanic", and "A Beautiful Mind". His approach to "Avatar" was slightly different from the style we've come to expect, but still keeping to his orchestral basics and adding a little more of everything. This is an epic movie for which he provided a score of epic proportions and epic orchestration. Given the films focus on fictional indigenous tribes, he employed a large array of global vocals which blend almost perfectly with culture of the Navi. Looking at his entire body of work, the music to Avatar sounds most similar to Titanic which won his only two Oscars in 1998. (Best Original Score and Best Original Song) It'll be interesting to see if returning to that style earns him the award again.

Looking next at Alexandre Desplat's music for "Fantastic Mr. Fox" we encounter a lesser known composer. Although he's composed for a few well known films and even 2 previous Oscar nominations ("Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "The Queen"), most of his film music career has focused on French films. In this puppet and claymation movie, Desplat takes a more whimsical focus that matches the film's personality and approach. Although he does an impressive job of providing the type of musical that almost perfectly compliments the film, it's difficult to walk away with an Oscar when your orchestration focuses on Banjos and whistling.

The music for "The Hurt Locker" was a surprising nomination for best Original Score. The soundtrack has allot of originality, but very little score. This was a joint composition by Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders who have collaborated on other films such as "I Robot", "Blade", and "Scream". Beltrami received the nomination once before for his work on "3:10 to Yuma", but I think he'll once again go home empty handed. This is an extremely complex psychological film and the music intended to match it's dark internal exploration. What sounds like an attempt to juxtaposition the frustrating anger of war surrounded by Arabic culture ends up sounding like nothing more than a Mosque competing with a Matallica concert. The nomination could've been for Sound Effects.

Hans Zimmer's music for "Sherlock Holmes" also took a very original approach, but presented a fascinating work that was surprisingly fun. Zimmer is a tremendously talented composer ("Crimson Tide", "The Lion King", "Gladiator") who has been nominated 7 previous times and never won the Oscar. The music for "Sherlock Holmes" is disjunct and abrasive yet somehow coherent and organized much like the lead character. His focus on harpsichord gives the entire soundtrack a Victorian feel, but with modern flavor. Also, his frenetic orchestration compliments the entire films urgency as Holmes and Watson frantically search for answers. Zimmer brilliantly combines his musical talent with films personality to create a score that just might win his first Oscar.

Lastly there's Michael Giacchino's second Oscar nomination. (The first was for his work on "Ratatouille") Very seldom have I been so strongly moved by a soundtrack and within the first few minutes of the film, I fell in love. This previously little known composer crafted beautiful sweeping themes that literally saturate the audience with a moving emotional experience. The quieter moments are appropriately intimate and personal, while the larger moments push everyone to the edge of their seats. During the entire film I was mesmerized by the music's beauty and seamless necessity. I'm of course talking about his work on "Star Trek". Why he was instead nominated for "Up", I'm not very sure. Yes, he does an impressive job of employing some beautiful themes with an older style that seems to fit the main character's reminiscence for days gone by. However, it does little else. Giacchino is a talented composer, and I'm glad he was recognized even for the wrong film.

That's my assessment of this year's nominations for Best Original Score. I think this might be the year that Zimmer finally receives what he deserves, but Oscar night is always full of surprises.