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).
-- 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. I totally disagree on the above points. Do you mean to say that for all those people who voted for ARR whether it is LA, NY or Satellite they did so only because they liked SdM and its popularity and Danny Boyle and then as an afterthought decided to give ARR the award because this guy happens to be the composer of the movie they love. I pity ARR. At a time when the world is waking up to his talent, there are millions of people from his own country who still don't believe this is happening. As for thematic development, let's put it this way. ARR is probably the best in the Indian movie scene when it comes to it. Can you say there was no thematic development in Jodha Akbar? Also Hollywood movies are different from Bollywood. Our movies' score is like a slap on the face, loud and noticeable unlike Western movies where you hardly hear it. As ARR majority score is for Indian movies, we just cannot compare it with Western scores and say it lacks thematic development. Can you give thematic development for a movie like Sivaji? It is like trying to do Method acting in our movies. We Indians are loud, colorful, emotional and our music, whether it is songs or BGM's has to reflect that. And ARR is one of the very few here who understands every scene in the movie and composes music accordingly. I respect your opinion but you are backing it up with flawed reasoning, man. My opinion is only regarding the above points. I will not go on to your other points as my knowledge on that is zero. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ramesh R Sent: 17 December, 2008 10:17 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [arr] Oscar Watch: Composer 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 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hFO9sA7LsA> 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@ <mailto:arrahmanfans%40yahoogroups.com> 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@ <mailto:arrahmanfans%40yahoogroups.com> 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 > _ >
