MOVIE MUSIC UK

The world of film music in 2018 yielded some truly outstanding scores, but my top scores of the year actually came to me rather more easily than they usually do. They each spoke to different aspects of my musical personality, touching on my love of screen musicals, my love of powerful and rousing action, my love of deep emotional content, and my love of memorable themes. The year’s best score, for me, heralded the triumphant return to Hollywood of a 1990s great who has spent more time on Broadway than in Tinseltown, and if there is any justice at all he will be the world’s newest EGOT after the Oscars are announced.

Meanwhile, the world outside of the United States proved once again that brilliant film music can be found all over the globe if you are prepared to actively seek it out instead of simply settling for whatever the major studios foist upon us; my winners and nominees this year include scores from the UK, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Iceland, Norway, Japan, China, and even Egypt. So, without further ado, here are my choices…

SCORE OF THE YEAR

• MARY POPPINS RETURNS, music by Marc Shaiman (review)

Nominees

• FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD, music by James Newton Howard (review)
• MAX AND ME, music by Mark McKenzie (review)
• SOLO, music by John Powell (review)
• WATERSHIP DOWN, music by Federico Jusid (review)

No music left more of an impression on me – or made me feel happier – than Marc Shaiman’s MARY POPPINS RETURNS. For me, this is the greatest singular musical achievement of 2018; it’s a masterpiece work which walks that fine line between paying respectful homage to the Sherman Brothers and treading a new path. It crafts original melodies which stand on their own but clearly fit in with the established Mary Poppins tonal world, and it works as an appropriate underscore, hitting all the right emotional beats and even building in some tremendous action writing. Not only that, but the songs Shaiman co-wrote with Scott Wittman have remained with me since the moment I first heard them in the film, and are equally brilliant – lyrical dexterity combining with deep knowledge of Poppins lore, effervescent fun, and moments of pathos.

Right up until Poppins opened, the score of the year battle was a straight fight between Mark McKenzie’s MAX AND ME, and John Powell’s SOLO. Max and Me is the year’s powerhouse emotional score, a work of reverent beauty and effortless elegance that bypasses everything else and goes straight for your heart and your tear ducts. Solo, on the other hand, proves beyond doubt that the future of Star Wars is in good hands, as John Powell tackles the story of a young Han Solo with panache, energy, an appealing world music sensibility, some fabulous musical throwbacks to the original Star Wars scores, and deft use of a new theme for Han by John Williams himself. Reminiscence therapy indeed.

In scoring the remake of the beloved British animated classic WATERSHIP DOWN, Federico Jusid captured the quintessential English pastoral sound that Angela Morley brought to the original 1978 film, but brought it firmly into the 21^st century with some outstanding and vivid contemporary action writing, and a set of original themes that perfectly illustrate the drama, adventure, terror felt by the rabbits of Sandleford as they search for a new home. Last but not least, James Newton Howard’s score for the second film in the Harry Potter spinoff series, FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD, allowed him to further explore the thematic ideas he wrote for the first film in the series, while adding new material to the melodic palette that really fleshes out the characters and concepts of this magical world. The score’s bold orchestral strokes and scintillating action music just further cements Howard at the top of film score’s current pecking order.

Rounding out my Top 10 film scores of 2018 (in alphabetical order) are: BENJI by Kostas Christides, JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM by Michael Giacchino, LA SOMBRA DE LA LEY/GUN CITY by Manuel Riveiro, MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS by Max Richter, and VICE by Nicholas Britell.

Just missing the cut are: BLACK PANTHER by Ludwig Göransson, COLETTE by Thomas Adès, JIM KNOPF UND LUKAS DER LOKOMOTIVFÜHRER by Ralf Wengenmayr, THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE by Roque Baños, and READY PLAYER ONE by Alan Silvestri.

 

COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

• ROQUE BAÑOS

Nominees

• LUDWIG GÖRANSSON
• JAMES NEWTON HOWARD
• FEDERICO JUSID
• MARC SHAIMAN

It may seem a little peculiar for a composer who had no scores in my Top 10 to be the composer of the year, but no composer showed so much range, versatility, and consistency in 2018 than Spain’s Roque Baños. Just this year he wrote the music for seven films: the Liam Neeson action thriller THE COMMUTER, the inspirational sports drama THE MIRACLE SEASON, Terry Gilliam’s long-delayed literary fantasy THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE [a genre nominee], the Scandinavian neo-noir thriller sequel THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB [another genre nominee], and three Spanish-language comedies – YUCATAN, SIN RODEOS, and MIAMOR PERDIDO. Each score was superb in its own way, succeeding admirably in its film, and providing an entertaining listening experience without. Other composers may have reached loftier heights with individual scores, but Baños proved to be the ultimate film composer, writing excellent music in numerous different styles for a wide variety of projects.

Argentine composer Federico Jusid had a very similar year to Baños, contributing music to six different projects (Spanish TV series FARIÑA and LA CATEDRAL DEL MAR, Spanish movies LA NOCHE DE 12 AÑOS and OLA DE CRÍMENES, the emotional drama LIFE ITSELF, and the outstanding British animated classic WATERSHIP DOWN), but the quality of his overall output was more varied than Baños’s, although the music for the bunnies proved to be one of the best scores of the year.

Both James Newton Howard and Marc Shaiman also wrote two of the scores of the year – Howard on FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD, and Shaiman on MARY POPPINS RETURNS, which as you can see is my #1 pick overall – but Howard also greatly impressed with his work on the classical fantasy THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS and the spy thriller RED SPARROW, the latter of which allowed Howard to write an astonishing piece of classical majesty for a ballet sequence.

Finally, Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson had a breakout year, writing music for three of the year’s biggest blockbusters: the smash hit Marvel super hero film BLACK PANTHER, the other smash hit Marvel super hero film VENOM, and the acclaimed sequel to the boxing movie CREED II. This, combined with his multiple Grammy nominations and wins for his work in the pop world with the groundbreaking hip-hop artist Childish Gambino (aka actor Donald Glover), heralds Göransson as a composer with the world at his feet.

Five other composers who had excellent years in 2018 are: MICHAEL GIACCHINO, Score of the Year nominee MARK McKENZIE, Score of the Year nominee JOHN POWELL, ALAN SILVESTRI, and FERNANDO VELÁZQUEZ.

 

BREAKTHROUGH COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

• MANUEL RIVEIRO

Nominees

• THOMAS ADÈS
• MARK CHAIT
• ROMARIC LAURENCE
• AMELIA WARNER

Spanish composer Manuel Riveiro is the composer who, for me, really broke out in 2018, mostly off the back of his score for thriller LA SOMBRA DE LA LEY. As I said in my review of it, Riveiro wrote a brilliantly sophisticated score featuring deep emotion, rich orchestrations, and vivid action, capped off with the stunning operatic aria “Hasta El Último Suspiro,” one of the best cues written anywhere in the world this year. The 45-year-old composer from Galicia received a Goya nomination for Best Score from the Spanish Academy for his work, and big things could be coming his way in future if he continues on this trajectory.

Thomas Adès and Amelia Warner are both already famous in their own right – Adès as a classical composer of international renown, Warner as an actress and solo recording artist – but both of them wrote their first ever full-length film scores in 2018, which explains their inclusion here. Adès wrote a beautiful period classical score for the Keira Knightly drama COLETTE, while Warner scored the life story of Frankenstein author MARY SHELLEY with a delicacy, poignancy, and subtlety that was enormously impressive.

Meanwhile, 2018 exposed the music of both Mark Chait and Romaric Laurence to me for the first time. South African composer Chait captured the swooning rapture of love with his music for the Chinese TV drama series AIQING DE BIANJIANG [FRONTIER OF LOVE], blending traditional Russian and Chinese music together in a romantic tapestry of loss and longing. French composer Laurence, on the other hand, gave the story of a young boy traveling through rural France in RÉMI SANS FAMILLE a gorgeous adventurous sweep that channels the best music of John Williams and Danny Elfman.

Five other composers worth keeping an eye on in the future are: YOSHIAKI FUJISAWA (A Place Further Than the Universe), KHALED HAMMAD (Awalem Khafea/Hidden Worlds), DAVID MAJZLIN (Bel Canto), IVAN PALOMARES (En Las Estrellas), and ROBERT PARKER & WAVESHAPER (Videoman).

 

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• “A Cover is Not the Book” from MARY POPPINS RETURNS; written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, performed by Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda

Nominees

• “Can You Imagine That” from MARY POPPINS RETURNS; written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, performed by Emily Blunt
• “Fall on Me” from THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS; written by Fortunato Zampaglione, Ian Axel, Chad Vaccarino, and Matteo Bocelli, performed by Andrea Bocelli and Matteo Bocelli
• “I’ll Never Love Again” from A STAR IS BORN; written by Stefani Gerrmanotta, Natalie Hemby, Hillary Lindsey, and Aaron Raitiere, performed Lady Gaga
• “Push and Pull” from VIDEOMAN, written by Sveinung Nygaard, performed by Sveinung Nygaard feat. Niki Yrla

Of course the best song of the year comes from the musical that is the best score of the year: MARY POPPINS RETURNS, by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Honestly, I could easily have chosen all of the songs to be in my top five, but I limited myself to what I personally think are best two. I was obsessed with “A Cover is Not the Book” from the moment I heard it – it’s a wonderfully bawdy, brilliant homage to the classic British music hall tradition of the 1930s, bringing the music of artists like Flanagan & Allan up to date. Emily Blunt’s perfect Cockney accent, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s patter, the ear-worm chorus, and the lyrical dexterity are all practically perfect in every way.

The other song I chose from Poppins is “Can You Imagine That,” a glorious rousing paean to the power of childhood fantasy, built around the score’s musical theme for Mary herself. Blunt again provides the vocals, singing with a knowing incredulity about pirates and seaside holidays and appealing the kid in all of us.

“I’ll Never Love Again” is my unexpected choice from A STAR IS BORN, the musical drama about the relationship between washed-up rocker Bradley Cooper and wide eyed newcomer Lady Gaga. While signature song “Shallow” has been roundly praised and is probably going to win an Oscar, I personally found “I’ll Never Love Again” – performed with rawness and openness by Gaga during the film’s finale – to be an emotional punch to the gut, and by far the film’s most effective musical moment.

I have not seen the films THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS or VIDEOMAN, but the songs from them appealed greatly to my personal music aesthetic. “Fall on Me” from NUTCRACKER spoke to my love of bel canto opera, and is a gorgeous soaring ballad performed by the blind Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and his son Matteo. Meanwhile, “Push and Pull” from VIDEOMAN took me back to the 1980s and all those wonderful synth-pop and new wave songs from the period; it’s a perfect homage to the electronic chart music of the era, and would have been spinning on my platters back in 1984 had it come out at the time.

Five other original songs I enjoyed in 2018 are: “Flower of the Universe” from A WRINKLE IN TIME, “Hasta el Último Suspiro” from LA SOMBRA DE LA LEY, “Love Frontier” from VIDEOMANNEN, “Viator” from MAQUIA: WHEN THE PROMISES FLOWER BLOOMS, and “When This Story Ends” from THE LITTLE MERMAID – plus, of course, all the other songs from MARY POPPINS RETURNS and A STAR IS BORN.

 

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Presented without additional commentary are my choices in the various genre sub-categories; for additional information and details on my thoughts about each nominated score, I strongly recommend you click on each link review, where available.

 

BEST DRAMA SCORE

• MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, music by Max Richter (review)

Nominees

• COLETTE, music by Thomas Adès (review)
• THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE, music by Roque Baños (review)
• RÉMI SANS FAMILLE, music by Romaric Laurence (review)
• VICE, music by Nicholas Britell (review)

Special mentions should also go to: BLACKKKLANSMAN by Terence Blanchard, CREED II by Ludwig Göransson, EN LAS ESTRELLAS by Ivan Palomares, THE MIRACLE SEASON by Roque Baños, and WELCOME TO MARWEN by Alan Silvestri.

 

BEST COMEDY SCORE

• MARY POPPINS RETURNS, music by Marc Shaiman (review)

Nominees

• CHRISTOPHER ROBIN, music by Geoff Zanelli and Jon Brion (review)
• CRAZY RICH ASIANS, music by Brian Tyler (review)
• LOS FUTBOLÍSIMOS, music by Fernando Velázquez (review)
• HILFE, ICH HAB MEINE ELTERN GESCHRUMPFT/HELP, I SHRUNK MY PARENTS, music by Anne Kathrin Dern (review)

Special mentions should also go to: DE SUPERHJEMP RETÖRNS by Felix Raffel, HOLMES AND WATSON by Mark Mothersbaugh, LAS LEYES DE LA TERMODINAMICA by Fernando Velázquez, QUE BAJO DIOS Y LO VEA by Fernando Velázquez, and VIDEOMAN by Robert Parker and Waveshaper.

 

BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER SCORE

• LA SOMBRA DE LA LEY/GUN CITY, music by Manuel Riveiro (review)

Nominees

• BENJI, music by Kostas Christides (review)
• THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB, music by Roque Baños (review)
• JIM KNOPF UND LUKAS DER LOKOMOTIVFÜHRER, music by Ralf Wengenmayr (review)
• RED SPARROW, music by James Newton Howard (review)

Special mentions should also go to: HALVDAN VIKING by Gaute Storaas, HONG HAI HANG DONG/OPERATION RED SEA by Elliot Leung, INORI NO MAKU GA ORIRU TOKI/THE CRIMES THAT BIND by Yugo Kanno, MOWGLI: LEGEND OF THE JUNGLE by Nitin Sawhney, and SUPERMARSU/SUPER FURBALL by Panu Aaltio.

 

BEST FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION/HORROR SCORE

• SOLO, music by John Powell (review)

Nominees

• BLACK PANTHER, music by Ludwig Göransson (review)
• FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD, music by James Newton Howard (review)
• JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM, music by Michael Giacchino (review)
• READY PLAYER ONE, music by Alan Silvestri (review)

Special mentions should also go to: ANT-MAN AND THE WASP by Christophe Beck, THE ARCTIC by Pantawit Kiangsiri, THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX by Bear McCreary, THE NUN by Abel Korzeniowski, and OUT OF THE SHADOWS by Christopher Gordon.

 

BEST ANIMATION SCORE

• MAX AND ME, music by Mark McKenzie (review)

Nominees

• LÓI: ÞÚ FLYGUR ALDREI EINN/PLOEY: YOU NEVER FLY ALONE, music by Atli Örvarsson (review)
• MÅNELYST I FLÅKLYPA, music by Knut Avenstroup Haugen (review)
• MAQUIA: WHEN THE PROMISED FLOWER BLOOMS, music by Kenji Kawai (review)
• WATERSHIP DOWN, music by Federico Jusid (review)

Special mentions should also go to: ASTERIX ET LA SECRET DE LA POTION MAGIQUE by Philippe Rombi, EARLY MAN by Harry Gregson-Williams and Tom Howe, HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3: SUMMER VACATION by Mark Mothersbaugh, INCREDIBLES 2 by Mark Mothersbaugh, and ISLE OF DOGS by Alexandre Desplat.

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY SCORE

• TIDES OF FATE, music by Pinar Toprak

Nominees

• THE DEVIL WE KNOW, music by Brian Tyler
• EQUUS: THE STORY OF THE HORSE, music by Darren Fung
• SNOW TO SAND, music by Frederik Wiedmann
• WILD, music by Matthijs Kieboom (review)

Special mentions should also go to: DEATH OF A NATION by Dennis McCarthy and John Beal, DESENTERRANDO SAD HILL/SAD HILL UNEARTHED by Zeltia Montes, FREE SOLO by Marco Beltrami, LOVE GILDA by Miriam Cutler, and McQUEEN by Michael Nyman.

 

BEST TELEVISION SCORE

• OTROS MUNDOS, music by Carlos Martin Jara (review)

Nominees

• AIQING DE BIANJIANG/FRONTIER OF LOVE, music by Mark Chait (review)
• AWALEM KHAFIA/HIDDEN WORLDS, music by Khaled Hammad (review)
• LA CATEDRAL DEL MAR, music by Federico Jusid (review)
• LOST IN SPACE, music by Christopher Lennertz (review)

Special mentions should also go to: HOUSE OF CARDS by Jeff Beal, OUTLANDER by Bear McCreary, A PLACE FURTHER THAN THE UNIVERSE by Yoshiaki Fujisawa, VIOLET EVERGARDEN by Evan Call, and YELLOWSTONE by Brian Tyler.

 

BEST VIDEO GAME SCORE

• OCTOPATH TRAVELER, music by Yasunori Nishiki

Nominees

• MOSS, music by Jason Graves
• NI NO KUNI II: REVENANT KINGDOM, music by Joe Hisaishi
• THRONEBREAKER: THE WITCHER TALES, music by Piotr Adamczyk, Marcin Przybyłowicz, and Mikolai Stroinski
• WORLD OF WARCRAFT: BATTLE FOR AZEROTH, music by Glenn Stafford, Neal Acree, Sam Cardon, David Arkenstone, Clint Bajakian, and David Duke

Special mentions should also go to: 11:11 MEMORIES RETOLD by Olivier Derivière, ANCESTORS LEGACY by Adam Skorupa and Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz, DARKSIDERS III by Cris Velasco, GOD OF WAR by Bear McCreary, and MINECRAFT: EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY by Gareth Coker.