OVP: Best Original Score (2021)
The Nominees Were...
Nicholas Britell, Don't Look Up
Hans Zimmer, Dune
Germaine Franco, Encanto
Alberto Iglesias, Parallel Mothers
Jonny Greenwood, The Power of the Dog
My Thoughts: We're continuing on with the aural categories for the 2021 Oscars (links to all of our past contests at the bottom of this page) with Best Score. One thing that we haven't talked about much from 2021 was that this was the year where they decided to randomly put some categories during the commercials, which was one of the bigger recent travesties at the Oscars. I remember at the time thinking that the oddest of the categories to move to before the ceremony (and basically be a "go out with the commercials win") was Score, given that Disney had a nominee (they tend to like to keep those on since the Mouse House owns ABC) and the eventual winner is one of the few classical film composers that most Americans know by name.
Hans Zimmer has had one of the most enduring and fascinating careers in film composition over the past 40 years. Frequently caught under the shadow of John Williams, his career has more variety than the other maestro, usually getting into cerebral science-fiction films and action movies, which makes the fact that his sole Oscar up until 2021 was for The Lion King even odder (though, it's worth noting, the weirdest film he ever did was The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie). His win for Dune is more in-tune with his career, and a fine choice by the Academy. The moody film, using a percussion-heavy theme to give us the sense of impending danger constantly on display in Arrakis, is glorious, and I love the use of luminous vocals throughout, a great escalation of already distinctive sounds.
His biggest competition was surely Jonny Greenwood's The Power of the Dog. Greenwood's move from rock guitarist to one of cinema's best composers is crazy (and so is the fact that he has yet to win an Oscar), but his work here is marvelous. While Zimmer's score is lush, maybe even bombastic (in the best way possible), Greenwood's is sparse, using plucking strings as if there is a metronome hanging over the head of this film, which of course there is (it's a western, there's always a showdown). I love the way that it feels like the most relief the score gives us is at the end...when there's still a minor note to the occasion.
Nicholas Brittel could also claim a spot alongside Greenwood as one of the best new discoveries in film music in the past decade (and TV music as well, as he is the man behind the now-iconic Succession theme song). Normally I'm onboard with him, but I feel like the music here is disposable, and oftentimes quite silly. This might be me projecting on the film itself (I hated this movie), but I also think listening to it on its own, it lacks the distinctive nature of Dune or The Power of the Dog, and feels like a combination of a Danny Elfman ripoff melded with every 1990's drama score, bells & keyboard & strings, but not something that seems necessary to call out were it not a Best Picture citation.
Speaking of, our last two nominees are not in the top category, which indicates a bit stronger support. Alberto Iglesias is another Oscar favorite. Like most of Pedro's movies, the score is a big component of the movie itself, bold & brassy, adding texture to an already rich tapestry. If you want to quibble, like Hitchcock before him, there are times when Pedro's movies won't quite have the score we need because it's so similar to the ones before it, and that's what Iglesias does here. I feel like there's little to tell the difference between Parallel Mothers' score and Bad Education's or The Skin I Live In's. The movie's use of piano is strong, but the constant violin might undercut some of the softer moments in the movie. Still, a good piece of music.
Encanto is in a weird area because so much of the pleasure is derived from the musical score. This is one of the challenges I have in grading musicals-I think subconsciously or not, Oscar makes a point of rewarding this as a proxy "Best Musical" statue, even though they have a category for that already. Franco's music is lovely, and there are some great instrumental moments, but almost all of the strength here is from the musical numbers, either repeating it or overshadowing some of the score feeling quite repetitive. Like Parallel Mothers, this isn't necessarily bad (and it's not in disservice to the picture, which is the main point of a score), but when you're giving out the honor of one of the year's five best, you have to get picky.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Grammys eligibility window for the best film score nomination is not the same as Oscar's so oftentimes you'll see films from two different years getting citations. In 2022, the Grammys picked Dune as one of their nominees, but it lost to The Queen's Gambit and Soul (in a tie) while for 2023 they gave the statue to Encanto (which won a lot of Grammys) and the 2021 films it beat were The Power of the Dog and No Time to Die. The Globes went with Zimmer (for Dune) against The French Dispatch, Encanto, The Power of the Dog, and Parallel Mothers while BAFTA also went with Dune atop Being the Ricardos, Don't Look Up, The French Dispatch, and The Power of the Dog. For Score, I think The French Dispatch was likely our fifth place even though it got nominated in no other categories with AMPAS. Alexandre Desplat has become slightly out-of-fashion with Oscar the past couple of years, but he was a default for so long he's surely just below the surface.
Films I Would Have Nominated: If we're going to go with an animated film from 2021, I am in most cases Team Encanto, but for music-there's just no beating the soaring glory of Dan Romer's work with Luca. The scene on the train, especially, convinces you that the movie is far better than it actually is (it's good, this would make you think it's WALL-E).
Oscar’s Choice: As I mentioned a few times, it was Zimmer, likely followed by Greenwood.
My Choice: For my choice, I'll reverse it-I think Greenwood better captures the mood of his film if we need a tiebreaker between two great scores. Following these two would be Parallel Mothers, Encanto, and Don't Look Up.
Those are my thoughts-how about yours? Are you with me that this is the time of the Power of the Dog or can you not get Dune out of your head? What is the best work of Hans Zimmer's long and unusual career? And has the Academy fallen out of love with Alexandre Desplat? Share your thoughts below!
Past Best Score Contests: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
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