OVP: Best Original Score (2008)
The Nominees Were...
Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
James Newton Howard, Defiance
Danny Elfman, Milk
A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
Thomas Newman, WALL-E
James Newton Howard, Defiance
Danny Elfman, Milk
A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
Thomas Newman, WALL-E
My Thoughts: As we discussed last week, the Original Score branch is usually pretty insulated, and this year is no exception. Only one of these men was receiving his first nomination (and he actually received three nominations to start out with, along with two more two years later, so he basically graduated to perpetual nominee after this year). Weirdly enough, this happened despite the fact that John Williams himself actually missed with an original score in 2008, the first time that had happened in sixteen years at the time. Considering that none of these men have won this particular category yet in the OVP, though, let's see which perpetual nominee I bestow a trophy upon, shall we?
We'll start out with that first-time nominee AR Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire. The film's score never quite hits the iconic heights of the main song of "Jai Ho," which is disappointing for a score that should be more iconic. I frequently felt that the film tried to rely a bit too heavily on techno, which was admittedly the fashion at the time, but doesn't jive well with the actual movie. The film is a tender love story that, yes, is surrounded by a popular game show, but it's hardly one that ever feels particularly harsh, and the techno rock score that infiltrates the film at times seems more likely just there because it's a Danny Boyle trope, but doesn't actually match the texture and feel of the film. The score also dominates some points of dialogue, which I always judge harshly-the music should be heard but not overbearing in a film, and that was my opinion of Rahman's work in this film.
Thomas Newman does a much better job, actually exceeding his film's theme, and creating a score that embraces the twinkle that Randy Newman and Michael Giacchino had brought to so many Pixar scores, while still adding his own sense of majesty to his score. Newman frequently finds scores that fit his film well, and he also finds a way to elevate gravitas in a movie (there's a reason he's been able to rack up so many nominations so quickly-this is exactly in the Academy's wheelhouse), but I do like his sense of play. I also am a teensy bit surprised that he managed to be nominated here, considering the score's reliance on classical music for select scenes (he uses several pieces by Strauss), but likely those were recused by the Academy due to the obvious parodying they were doing of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Overall, I like this score an awful lot, but it doesn't quite hit the iconic level some other aspects of the film do-this is not a score like, say Toy Story or even Up! that is instantly recognizable if you play it stand-alone as belonging to the film, something I usually take into consideration when giving away a trophy for the best of the year.
Then again, not many of this year's nominees could live up to that lofty expectation. This is particularly true of James Newton Howard's Defiance, definitely the nominee above that you're saying "huh-what was that again" to, and I think the Academy might have been better off going a different direction (hell, they had another JNH score on-deck, but we'll discuss that below). The score is not ugly by any means (it's actually quite lovely as a solo track), and actually plays more memorably outside the film than it did during the movie (Howard is cursed with a particularly bad film to score). The Academy probably ate up the prestige of having Joshua Bell himself do the violin solos, and pieces like "Exodus" are haunting, but they don't resonate within the film. This isn't a Grammy for Best Classical Composition-it's for Best Score, and the film doesn't do enough to distinguish itself or to elevate mood in the actual picture.
Danny Elfman was a-characteristically subtle with his hopeful score in Milk. The film is not necessarily in the Elfman-wheelhouse, in my opinion, frequently relying on something other than a xylophone or a bevy of other quirky percussion instruments to create ambience. In fact, saxophones and even traditional strings filter through the score, to the point where you almost don't recognize this as an Elfman movie (which is the point, of course-the score is supposed to support the film, not overpower it, no matter what Philip Glass thinks). Still this film also lacks that clear "this is Milk" style sound, and isn't traditionally beautiful enough in the same way as Defiance nor as able to well-capture the mood as WALL-E. It's definitely interesting to consider compared to Elfman's other scores, and the film does do its job in certain sections (the "musical montage" style scenes that every film has work really well because Elfman uses Harvey's never-ending optimism as inspiration), but I never feel like the score distinguishes itself as great and "wow" during the film.
The final nominated score is Alexandre Desplat's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This is a perfect pairing in my opinion as Desplat's better at establishing mood in a film better than almost any other composer working today, and this is a film that, due to the occasional lapses in the script, needs mood desperately to carry the romance. Desplat focuses heavily on the piano, a key plot point, and at times just on a slowly dueling piano in pieces like "Benjamin and Daisy." The film, like all of these movies, doesn't have an easily recognizable score, but it does fit the mood of the movie better than probably any of them, and Desplat strikes the best balance of the bunch between highlighting the music and the motion picture.
We'll start out with that first-time nominee AR Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire. The film's score never quite hits the iconic heights of the main song of "Jai Ho," which is disappointing for a score that should be more iconic. I frequently felt that the film tried to rely a bit too heavily on techno, which was admittedly the fashion at the time, but doesn't jive well with the actual movie. The film is a tender love story that, yes, is surrounded by a popular game show, but it's hardly one that ever feels particularly harsh, and the techno rock score that infiltrates the film at times seems more likely just there because it's a Danny Boyle trope, but doesn't actually match the texture and feel of the film. The score also dominates some points of dialogue, which I always judge harshly-the music should be heard but not overbearing in a film, and that was my opinion of Rahman's work in this film.
Thomas Newman does a much better job, actually exceeding his film's theme, and creating a score that embraces the twinkle that Randy Newman and Michael Giacchino had brought to so many Pixar scores, while still adding his own sense of majesty to his score. Newman frequently finds scores that fit his film well, and he also finds a way to elevate gravitas in a movie (there's a reason he's been able to rack up so many nominations so quickly-this is exactly in the Academy's wheelhouse), but I do like his sense of play. I also am a teensy bit surprised that he managed to be nominated here, considering the score's reliance on classical music for select scenes (he uses several pieces by Strauss), but likely those were recused by the Academy due to the obvious parodying they were doing of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Overall, I like this score an awful lot, but it doesn't quite hit the iconic level some other aspects of the film do-this is not a score like, say Toy Story or even Up! that is instantly recognizable if you play it stand-alone as belonging to the film, something I usually take into consideration when giving away a trophy for the best of the year.
Then again, not many of this year's nominees could live up to that lofty expectation. This is particularly true of James Newton Howard's Defiance, definitely the nominee above that you're saying "huh-what was that again" to, and I think the Academy might have been better off going a different direction (hell, they had another JNH score on-deck, but we'll discuss that below). The score is not ugly by any means (it's actually quite lovely as a solo track), and actually plays more memorably outside the film than it did during the movie (Howard is cursed with a particularly bad film to score). The Academy probably ate up the prestige of having Joshua Bell himself do the violin solos, and pieces like "Exodus" are haunting, but they don't resonate within the film. This isn't a Grammy for Best Classical Composition-it's for Best Score, and the film doesn't do enough to distinguish itself or to elevate mood in the actual picture.
Danny Elfman was a-characteristically subtle with his hopeful score in Milk. The film is not necessarily in the Elfman-wheelhouse, in my opinion, frequently relying on something other than a xylophone or a bevy of other quirky percussion instruments to create ambience. In fact, saxophones and even traditional strings filter through the score, to the point where you almost don't recognize this as an Elfman movie (which is the point, of course-the score is supposed to support the film, not overpower it, no matter what Philip Glass thinks). Still this film also lacks that clear "this is Milk" style sound, and isn't traditionally beautiful enough in the same way as Defiance nor as able to well-capture the mood as WALL-E. It's definitely interesting to consider compared to Elfman's other scores, and the film does do its job in certain sections (the "musical montage" style scenes that every film has work really well because Elfman uses Harvey's never-ending optimism as inspiration), but I never feel like the score distinguishes itself as great and "wow" during the film.
The final nominated score is Alexandre Desplat's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This is a perfect pairing in my opinion as Desplat's better at establishing mood in a film better than almost any other composer working today, and this is a film that, due to the occasional lapses in the script, needs mood desperately to carry the romance. Desplat focuses heavily on the piano, a key plot point, and at times just on a slowly dueling piano in pieces like "Benjamin and Daisy." The film, like all of these movies, doesn't have an easily recognizable score, but it does fit the mood of the movie better than probably any of them, and Desplat strikes the best balance of the bunch between highlighting the music and the motion picture.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes may have gone with Springsteen for the Original Song category, but they weren't skipping out on Slumdog's music entirely, picking it as the victor over Changeling, Benjamin Button, Defiance, and Frost/Nixon. BAFTA went a similar direction, giving Slumdog the trophy, but chose The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia! (yes, Mamma Mia!) over Defiance and Milk. The sixth place spot I think was a battle between The Dark Knight (which has the added benefit of being composed by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, both frequent Oscar nominees), and the not-listed Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (yes, the movie was terrible but this is John Williams we are talking about here). Both have a weird fact surrounding their snubs. The Dark Knight is only the fourth exclusively-classical score to win this category at the Grammys and not be nominated at the Oscars, and it is by-far the most-nominated film to achieve that distinction. Indiana Jones, on the other hand, was the first time since 1992 (when Williams did Home Alone 2 and Far and Away) that Williams had an eligible score and AMPAS didn't nominate him (coincidentally, Williams also won a Grammy in a different category for the same score). All-in-all, my gut says it was Williams, who gets nominated so routinely it feels impossible to assume he wasn't right up there in sixth place.
Films I Would Have Nominated: Had Nico Muhly's score for The Reader been composed by Desplat or Howard, he not only would have been nominated but I suspect he might have won for the work. The Reader was admittedly a surprise nominee for the Oscars, but its score fits it like a glove-mysterious and a little reserved, it feels incredibly spare and wonderful and yet lush. I loved it, and probably would have given it the Oscar had it been nominated. Also, this is likely the last time I bring it up for the Oscars, but Carter Burwell, arguably the best composer currently working who has never received an Oscar nomination, did do something none of the nominated five managed to do-he created an instantly recognizable, iconic and beautiful score. He just happened to do it behind a teen vampire film that was critically lambasted (Twilight, for those with short memories). As a result, even John Williams would have struggled to get a nomination there, but Burwell should have.
Oscar’s Choice: When there is a newcomer amidst four perpetual nominees the newcomer always gets it, particularly if the film is the Best Picture frontrunner, so this was an easy choice for Slumdog. Benjamin and WALL-E were probably running a distant second.
My Choice: This was a weird write-up for me, in that my opinion about Defiance changed a bit (the score is much better in just a recording than I expected it to be), but that doesn't change the fact that it doesn't play well in the actual movie. Therefore, I'm going with Benjamin Button, followed by WALL-E, Milk, Defiance, and Slumdog (originally Defiance was in fifth place, for the record, so it does gain a little).
Those are my thoughts-how about yours? Are you also weirded out when you like a score so much better as a stand-alone, to the point where you wonder what was happening in the actual picture? Are you with me that Benjamin Button deserved the top win or are you more in the Slumdog camp? And whose record was more impressively broken-The Dark Knight or Indiana Jones 4? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Also in 2008: Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Previously in 2008
No comments:
Post a Comment