Monday, October 01, 2012

OVP: Original Score (2011)


OVP: Best Original Score

The Nominees Were...


John Williams, The Adventures of Tintin
Ludovic Bource, The Artist
Howard Shore, Hugo
Alberto Iglesias, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
John Williams, War Horse

My Thoughts: Is there a more subjective category at the Oscars than Best Score?  Are you judging the best piece of music?  The music that best fits the film?  Do you want a score that stays in the background or becomes its own character alongside those you can visually teetering about on the screen?  For me, I think it's a combination, though I cannot claim that I'm always unbiased-I find Phillip Glass's scores to be occasionally intoxicating, but I find them a bit bombastic when inserted into, say, a movie like Notes on a Scandal.  Of course, I'll turn right around and worship John Williams, even if his string pieces drown out most of the goings-on on screen.  So, I shall put on my impartiality cap as tightly as possible, and start in on these films.

The first score I want to make sure and discuss is the brilliant trumpet that sings like a siren throughout Alberto Iglesias's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  Iglesias's scores tend to have a gin-soaked, noir feeling, and so he's most perfectly matched to this film.  I love the way it sort of haunts these mysterious, unknowable men.  It's clearly borrowing from Chinatown, but if you're going to borrow from anywhere, that's a good place to start, wouldn't you say?  The film doesn't break up the soundtrack enough for my taste in the sense that that strong reliance on noir staples never really goes away, but it's a strong effort from a composer the Academy increasingly admires (this is his third nomination in seven years-you know a win has to be coming soon).

Up next would be the playful and jovial score that Ludovic Bource brings to the screen.  I know that I've been a bit hard on The Artist, but I will give it its due here-this is a score that perfectly matches its on-screen counterparts.  I love the way it bounces, as if it's in a movie-house in the 1920's.  Again, I know that I've pointed out that this sort of homage was a miss in Editing and other categories, but it's because the music of the Silent Era is still just as relavent and there isn't a technological need for improvement.  I will say that the light and playful isn't my favorite type of score compared to the soaring and seering, but this one fits like a glove.

Next up would be the virtuouso of Hugo.  Howard Shore's scores are incredibly diverse-while I could pick out a John Williams or an Alberto Iglesias score with relative ease, I can't do the same with Shore, despite my having quite a bit of knowledge surrounding his filmography. Shore's music could be heavily reliant on music from other sources (including pop, rather than classical music) or entirely orchestral.  This may be the most ambitious score of the five, in my estimation, inserting itself regularly into the film, and trying the hardest to become one of those iconic and memorable scores that instantly recalls the film attached to it.  I have to say, though, that it doesn't quite hit that note-it isn't distinct enough to stick out in future years in the way that Shore's Lord of the Rings or Silence of the Lambs work does.  Part of that is the film in question also has to be successful, but considering its eleven Oscar nominations, one has to assume that Hugo will be arround for a few years to come.  Shore's score doesn't give that distinctiveness, and is too routine (though still beautiful).

And with that, we get to the John Williams portion of the article.  As I have been tackling these writeups, I have a feeling that I will become extremely familiar with writing about certain people who have dozens of Oscar nominations-the Edith Heads, the Woody Allens, the Cedric Gibbonses, and of course, the maestro himself, John Williams.  Of the two scores, the one I cared for less was The Adventures of Tintin.  While at the time I was a big fan (though still not more than War Horse), it's not quite as special to me nearly a year later as it was at the time.  Perhaps it's the playfullness, or the fact that it borrows a little too much from his previous (better) work in Home Alone, but I left being impressed, but knowing that this was not one of the scores that would rank amongst his best scores, and more importantly for this project, it was not the best score of the year.

War Horse, however, delivered.  The beautiful muted trumpets and the way the music reaches across the wide expansive plains is haunting and so effective.  Williams is a huge fan of the big crescendo in his film themes, and in a movie that's all about leading up to big moments, this works beautifully.  There is some borrowing from past scores, like with Tintin, but in fairness, every modern cinematic composer borrows rather readily from Williams, so it seems mean to judge too harshly when he borrows from himself.  I love the way the score's gravitas underscores the mixture of children's story and a story of wartime that Spielberg is balancing in his direction.  Overall, I'd have to say it's a huge hit, and one that I suspect will be used again in Academy clips and movie trailers.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Golden Globes cut Tintin and Tinker in favor of the minimalist work of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the lush indulgences of Abel Korzeniowski in W.E.  BAFTA also cut Tintin, and also favored Dragon Tattoo, a score that I would say was a little edgy for Oscar, had they not won Best Score the year prior for an even edgier (though, admittedly, better) score for The Social Network.
Films I Would Have Nominated: If you go with overall quality, this was one of Oscar's better lineups from last year, and I don't want to quibble too much here-these are five solid choices.  That said, the gothic howls of Dario Marianelli's Jane Eyre still ring in my ears (and not just because I have them on my iPod right now).  His strong reliance on string solos gives the film, which is already splendid, an even deeper layer of fear and emptiness masquerading as openness.  It knows the tragedy that is unfolding, and has a hard brusqueness that it's not going to let up just because we want Jane to have a moment's peace.
Oscar's Choice: Oscar tends to favor his Best Pictures when all things are equal, and he did so again with the inventive Bource score
My Choice: I swear that I won't do this every time (or perhaps I will-I do tend to think he towers over most), but I'm going with Williams for War Horse.  Iglesias, Tintin, Shore, and Bource follow, but without Marianelli there to try and sway me, Williams work is the only score that I feel will draw me into the movie every time.
And now, of course, I welcome you to discuss in the comments-of the five films, what movie deserved the trophy?  What films should have been nominated?  And of all films in 2011, which had truly the best Original Score?

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