As well as being a music maniac; I’m a film fiend (I can hear you falling over my massive use of alliteration there.) One thing I have only grown to appreciate in the past few years, is how important the score and soundtrack to a film are. In the past decade we have seen movie soundtracks that have stuck in our contemporary culture; music that has literally defined how we remember a film. I remember being a tweenager and seeing the Trainspotting soundtrack on our CD shelf, my mum loved it. The scores to Psycho, Requiem for a Dream, Amelie and even Harry Potter amongst hundreds of others have created emblems on which the film is remembered.
There have been so many films in the past years that have had mesmerising melodies- who hasn’t cried to Baby waving farewell to Johnny, whilst ‘She’s Like the Wind’ played in the background? However, I’m switching focus to this month’s releases. I have seen two films in the past week alone where the soundtracks changed the film entirely.
The first was Perks of Being a Wallflower; a feature about Charlie, a boy (Logan Lerman) struggling to fit into his freshman year whilst dealing with his past and current mental health issues. His first breakthrough into friendshipdom (matehood? Pal-land?) is at a school dance where Sam (Emma Watson.. Hermione with an American accent) and her step brother Patrick (Ezra Miller) do their ‘living room dance’ to Come on Eileen. A perfectly chosen song, I once asked every DJ, across four clubs, in Burnley to play the song… I’d like to say my conquest succeeded, but it didn’t! Whenever the song is played it stirs up dance moves you didn’t know you had. The Smiths feature as the character’s youthful fixation, with Awake being the mix-tape favourite (the film is set in the 90’s). Heroes by David Bowie makes the film’s most memorable scene. Somehow- without being cheesy- the song makes the group feel ‘infinite’ and encapsulates the impulsive nature of the characters, without seeming contrived at all.
The second film, On the Road, has been wildly anticipated because of Kristen Stewart’s presence. The film is more road-living than road-tripping. The erratic characters caught in a world of repetition that is stuck on drugs, sex and stealing car fuel. The two hour duration is from start to finish adorned with gorgeous tracks. Favourites include Ella Fitzgerald’s I’ve got the world on a string which emphasises the fragile environment the characters have put themselves in. Death Letter Blues marries the tone of the entire film, country USA and unpredictability.
It would be insane not to mention the new Bond tune. Paul Epworth has produced the quite tame but powerful Skyfall. Epworth has previously produced for the likes of Florence, Cee Lo Green and Lana Del Rey. After the past two themes, You Know My Name and Another Way to Die, the Skyfall track had to be as good. So they got Adele in… Anything involving Adele was going to get both critics and the public to turn their heads to the upcoming film. The song is definitely different to the previous. It alludes more to the Shirley Bassey, classic bond songs. Adele’s jazzy, powerhouse vocals create a reinvented form of bond.
This month’s releases have already given me new listening material, old and new- I hope they do for you, too!