Movie Enthusiast Issue 19: Definitely Not Temp Music
Last week the inestimably valuable Every Frame a Painting, the popular series of video essays about filmmaking, covered the recent downtick in memorable blockbuster theme songs. It's a complex and fascinating problem, and one that got me thinking. Outside of the Christopher Nolan universe, most blockbusters since 2010—the video singles out the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though even non-superhero movies are likewise prone to generic scoring—don't feature instantly memorable tunes the likes of which Star Wars, Chariots of Fire, Harry Potter, and even something as far back as Psycho once gave us. I mean, Gravity won the Oscar for best original score but who even remembers what it sounded like?
All of this leads us naturally to ask: Where, then, can the iconic movie tunes be found?
Let's have a listen!
Inception – Since I mentioned Nolan already, let's start here. If I asked you to sing (/hum/make noises with your mouth approximating music) the main theme of Inception, you'd be able to do it without thinking twice, right? How can anyone forget the grandiose BWAAAAH-BWAAAAH that has been replicated a thousand times over in lesser films? Although perhaps the more pertinent question for our discussion is: do you remember any of the musical embellishments leading up to that climax?
(Tangent: I never got to see Inception in theaters and now I kind of regret it.)
Cloud Atlas – Thinking in terms of blockbusters with memorable main themes, the Wachowskis’ Cloud Atlas is probably the most recent example of a movie that made a genuine effort at capturing the kind of magic that a leitmotif can add to a movie (think “Hedwig's Theme” from the Harry Potter cinematic universe and how it was often remixed to grand dramatic effect). Though I have to admit that I still haven't seen Cloud Atlas, I spent plenty of time listening to its soundtrack around the time I was reading the book and appreciate the effort the score makes to tie in the themes of the story. Repeated a dozen or so different ways throughout the soundtrack, the main theme fits the story of interconnected characters played interchangeably across centuries by the same small cast.
The Social Network – As we move farther away from the textbook “summer/holiday adventure blockbuster” and towards movies that toe the line of Oscar Fare, we notice that scores making the most lasting impression are those that aren't afraid to ditch the traditional orchestral format. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, for instance, have churned out some iconic themes across their three collaborations with David Fincher. The main theme of The Social Network is easily their best work—and, interestingly, their simplest.
Sicario – Along those same lines, I'd like to toss the score for Sicario into the ring. Maybe it has more staying power by virtue of its history: composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, previously known for his twinkly, Oscar-nominated score for The Theory of Everything, caught pretty much everyone off guard with the total musical about face he took in order to supply the soundtrack for Denis Villeneuve's intense and tar-hearted drug cartel thriller. The song I'm choosing to highlight here isn't precisely the main theme, but it's one of those unforgettable tracks that's been seared into my brain by the traumatic experience of hearing it in the context of the film.
Under the Skin – (it kicks in at around 0:54 )I find it interesting to note that Every Frame a Painting highlights Mica Levi's otherwordly theme for Under the Skin as an example a track that was likely used as temp music for projects that followed it. (Apparently the film industry really does pay attention to all these art house movies, even if they don't bother nominating them for awards!)
Mr. Turner – Okay this one's definitely just me, but humor me: the movie that gave us a main theme played by a diseased clarinet—there's not other way of putting it—has, for better or worse, stuck with me long after I stopped debating my friends on the movie's merits of lack thereof. I blame composer Gary Yershon's score in large part for making Mr. Turner a permanent fixture of my movie memory.
The Fits – Speaking of diseased clarinets, they seem to be the instrument du jour in noteworthy film soundtracks. Microbudget coming-of-age film The Fits makes excellent use of them.
Carol – There's another facet to this conversation we haven't touched on yet that relates also to The Fits. If a movie will never in a million years be seen as widely as, say, Star Wars, can its main theme be “memorable” in a meaningfully comparable sense? Carol features one of those legendarily romantic overtures, but it's not as though anyone still whistles the theme songs from Douglas Sirk melodramas—so can this even count?
The Hateful Eight – Though enlisting Ennio Morricone to score your film is basically cheating.
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya – In the end it may be animation that keeps iconic movie theme music alive. I've saved the best for last: for my money, this theme from Studio Ghibli director Isao Takahata's final film is simply the greatest work of film scoring to have emerged this decade. It works in the context of the film (in which a folk song plays a central role to the plot) but it also stands alone as a tremendous musical work in its own right.
Have I forgotten anything obvious? Drop me a note with your post-2010 theme song of choice! (Original scores only—pre-existing songs licensed for a film soundtrack, à la Guardians of the Galaxy, are another conversation entirely.)