ARR's effort in SdM works great as a combination of songs and score. Evaluated for just the music score there's not much that stands out for me. For sure, it supports the movie and the action on screen but does it go beyond that? And I think I've mentioned this earlier-- there's little or no thematic development (and that's something I could say for a lot of ARR scores in general). It looks like he's just scoring the scene. But where is he really connecting the dots?
I'd like to think that a good score is something that, in addition to supporting the movie, introduces certain ideas, toys with them, and develops them. Cohesiveness is another attribute that I'm looking for. A good score can provide a subtext or commentary not just on what's happening on screen, but also on what might happen or where is this going. I'm not saying that SdM is a bad score. It's a good soundtrack, and a real departure for ARR. Latika's theme is lovely-- it represents Jamal's love and longing and was used to good effect in the end with a summary of the journey. The action theme (Escape) was another that was put to good use in the chase sequences. I just think that there's not much in it to make the cut for best score when the field is already rich with some great works this year. Alexandre Desplat has been in great form this year with strong scores for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button & Largo Wench. Danny Elfman has Milk & Standard Operating Procedure. James Newton Howard has The Happening & Defiance. Zbigniew Priesner has Anonyma. Thomas Newman has WALL-E. Adrian Johnston has Brideshead Revisited. I'm not just blindly putting these names out. There are a number of sites (Itunes, Youtube, Amazon) where you can listen to free clips. Anyone remember the Oscar-winning scores of Brokeback Mountain or Babel? Both were by Gustavo Santaolalla. Both of those were very minimalistic and sparse with little or no themes. Perhaps the recent trend is that if you have a wildly popular film, it will just drive the critics and voters into having a favorable opinion of it for the sub-categories too (yes, I do think that ARR's score for SdM is riding the crest of the movie's massive popularity). Or perhaps the critics really do believe in the 'less is more' philosophy. How else would you explain bewildering decisions like nominating Clint Eastwood for Best Score for Changeling, or James Newton Howard's dronish score for Michael Clayton for last year's Oscar? If it's really a trend then I don't like it one bit and perhaps I'm in the minority here. As a parting thought I'll link to the youtube clip of what I consider as signs of brilliant scoring in recent times. Check out the opening scene to Birth scored by Alexandre Desplat. It's a beauty of construction. There's a delicate repeating motif with flute followed by the celeste (a Desplat favorite), drones, bass strings, tympani, romantic violins, horns and a lot more. It does way more than just scoring the jogging scene. It's proof of why Desplat is rated so high today. RR ________________________________ From: sureshmechnit <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 2:09:23 AM Subject: Re: [arr] Oscar Watch: Composer Hi Ramesh, Can you please tell me what should be there in Score to get nominated? Not to defend Rahman but just curious to know. Smile Sureshkumar. --- In arrahmanfans@ yahoogroups. com, Ramesh R <triscodeca@ ...> wrote: > > So many greats all in one place! Too bad that Thomas Newman wasn't there. > An interesting read even though I wish that ARR had spoken more. He clearly hates the temp-tracking and deadlines! > I'm not sure why The Visitor is being considered. It's a 2007 movie. But the Kaczmarek score is excellent as always. > > I still don't see what's in the SdM score for it to be nominated but anyways it's nice to see ARR get recognition like this, and interact with other greats. > > > > > > ____________ _________ _________ __ > From: Swapna <swapna...@. ..> > To: arrahmanfans@ yahoogroups. com > Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 10:40:08 PM > Subject: [arr] Oscar Watch: Composer > > > http://www.hollywoo dreporter. com/hr/content_ display/film/ news/e3i728e28ad f80ba3aae5c37a6b d621de8e > _ >
