MOVIE MUSIC UK

This year was a fascinating year for me in terms of film music, mainly because for the majority of it there wasn’t one runaway winner for Score of the Year. In recent years there has been a Rings of Power or some other clear front runner, but that wasn’t the case this year – instead there were a very large group of four and four-and-a-half star scores, any of which could have taken top honors depending on the slightest vagaries of personal taste, composer affection, or film quality. I heard more than 700 scores in 2023 – either as a soundtrack album, in movie context, or both – and I ended up rating 84 of them **** or better.

There were an especially large number of excellent scores from outside the mainstream Hollywood system – especially China, France, Japan, and Poland – which again indicates that the world of film music remains as rich and vibrant as it ever was, provided you are willing to put in some effort and explore beyond the confines of the mainstream Hollywood system. There were also a large number of exceptional TV scores, video game scores, and even scores for animated short films that left a significantly positive impression. As such, as was the case last year, I decided to continue to allow television and video game scores to compete on an equal footing with film scores for my coveted ‘Score of the Year’ award –

So, without further ado, here are my choices for the best scores of 2023!

 

SCORE OF THE YEAR

• THE PIPER, Christopher Young (review)

Nominees

• THE BOYS IN THE BOAT, Alexandre Desplat (review)
• CHŁOPI/THE PEASANTS, Łukasz Rostkowski (review)
• CREATION OF THE GODS I: KINGDOM OF STORMS, Gordy Haab (review)
• GOLD KINGDOM AND WATER KINGDOM, Evan Call (review)
• IN LOVE AND DEEP WATER, Takatsugu Muramatsu (review)
• IN THE LAND OF SAINTS AND SINNERS, Diego Baldenweg, Nora Baldenweg, Lionel Baldenweg (review)
• INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY, John Williams (review)
• STAR TREK: PICARD [S3], Stephen Barton and Frederik Wiedmann
• ZNACHOR/FORGOTTEN LOVE, Paweł Lucewicz (review)

 

Of all the scores I heard in 2023, none stuck with me more than Christopher Young’s THE PIPER. It’s a horror film that, at the time of writing, has only been released in cinemas in Spain and a few other select European markets, so it’s somewhat obscure, but the music… it’s sensational. The music is an encapsulation of everything that has ever made Young’s music great – it’s a huge Gothic horror score for the full orchestra, choir, and various specialty instruments. It’s endlessly creative, compositionally and intellectually, and as well as being scary and chilling, it also packs an emotional punch. Most impressively, Young scored it twice: firstly, before shooting even began, Young wrote a 30-minute three-movement Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, to represent the piece of ‘cursed’ classical music that appears in the film. Then, during the actual scoring process, Young took elements from the concerto and used them as the basis of the score itself. The resulting score is just brilliant, approaching masterpiece levels of excellence. I haven’t been able to get the main theme out of my head for weeks and every time I listen to it I find something new and exciting. If that’s not perfect criteria for score of the year, I don’t know what is.

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT by Alexandre Desplat is the composer’s attempt to capture the ‘inspirational sports drama’ score and make it his own – and he succeeds superbly. Think of all the best Desplat scores over the years, and all the best things about them – the precise and almost metronomic rhythms, the crisp and clear orchestrations, the elegant writing for strings – and then add in an enormous amount of sporting triumph, patriotic heroism, and strong positive emotion, and that’s what you have in The Boys in the Boat. For me, the appeal of the score lies in the colors and the harmonies, the instrumental combinations and the compositional complexity, and in the myriad of emotions that Desplat allows to come through. it all builds up to the final cue, “Poughkeepsie,” which is the 10 minute summation of most of Desplat’s main ideas, from the sentimental and dream-like strings that have an almost mystical sound, to the lyrical writing for woodwinds, and the wonderful explosions of kinetic action and dynamic movement. It’s one of the best drama scores of the year for me, and a wonderful return to form for the Frenchman.

It was a fantastic year for Polish film music, and two efforts from that country make my top ten. CHŁOPI or THE PEASANTS by Łukasz Rostkowski accompanies a groundbreaking animated film where the movie was first shot with the actors, and then over the course of five years more than a hundred painters created over 40,000 oil paintings based on the shots, which ultimately became the frames in the film. The score is performed by the Rebel Babel Film Orchestra, a ‘band’ that Rostkowski together with the intention of bringing together numerous Slavic musical and vocal cultures, using only historical instruments, no electronics. The resulting score is a combination of symphonic folk tunes, choirs, and more modern-sounding contemporary scoring, and it is a massive, joyous celebration of that entire culture. The score is fascinating, expertly crafted, a brilliant combination of traditional Slavic folk music and more modernistic dramatic scoring, filtered through the unconventional sensibility of a former rapper-turned-first time film composer, and I found the whole thing to be just wonderful.

Meanwhile ZNACHOR, or FORGOTTEN LOVE is a period drama score by Paweł Lucewicz and it is astonishingly beautiful and deeply emotional. The first half of the score is mostly about loss and has a sense of melancholy, while the second half wallows in wonderous, heartfelt romance. Stylistically, the score reminds me a little of classic Thomas Newman, possibly combined with the long-lined emotional depth of John Barry in his most beautifully bittersweet, and the most contemporary classical piano writing of people like Dario Marianelli and Craig Armstrong. I was captivated by its tender lyricism and exceptional beauty from start to finish.

It’s also been a tremendous year for film music in east Asia – especially China and Japan – and three of my choices come from that region. CREATION OF THE GODS I: KINGDOM OF STORMS is a Chinese action fantasy adventure movie, and the score by Gordy Haab is an absolute epic, a full-scale, full-throated sweeping melodrama interspersed with rousing action music and a great deal of appropriate Chinese ethnic music accompanying the large western orchestra. This is the kind of score you don’t get in western cinema very much anymore – a score with all the emotions dialed up to the max, which isn’t afraid to present prominent memorable themes, and which simply revels in the enormous scale and scope of the whole thing. There are literally dozens of themes and leitmotifs weaving through the score, which is mightily impressive; the main ‘Qi’ theme that runs through much of the score is a knockout, one of the best of the year.

GOLD KINGDOM AND WATER KINGDOM is a Japanese animated fantasy film and the score, by Evan Call, is outstanding. It’s a huge, sweeping, romantic orchestral work, sometimes quirky, sometimes devastatingly beautiful, which yet again illustrates just how much outstanding film music continues to come out of the Japanese market. There is a richness and authenticity to this music, and even though Call is not Japanese his music evokes the sound of that culture perfectly, and his use of familiar regional instruments is excellent. IN LOVE AND DEEP WATER a Japanese murder-mystery comedy movie, and Takatsugu Muramatsu’s score is emotional, playful, and very rewarding, combining sparking orchestral textures and strong, memorable themes with a sort of jazzy, capery sound that fits in with the lightly comedic style of the film itself. It’s all quite outstanding, an unexpected delight, and for me is the best comedy scores of the year – not because it’s inherently funny but because, like all the best comedy scores, it plays things completely straight.

The Irish thriller IN THE LAND OF SAINTS AND SINNERS had a superb score by the Swiss-Australian composing siblings Diego Baldenweg, Nora Baldenweg and Lionel Baldenweg. Their music combines the classic sound of a spaghetti western with traditional Irish instruments, which are then brought together with a symphonic orchestra and choir to give it a mysterious 1970s vibe. The main signature sound throughout the score is that of a harmonica, the sound of which was entirely intended to be a throwback to Ennio Morricone’s scores for classic Clint Eastwood westerns. The whole thing is brilliant, hugely atmospheric and effective, an unusual but brilliantly-conceived clash of styles that is action-packed, dramatic, and at times unexpectedly beautiful.

Season 3 of the Paramount+ TV series STAR TREK: PICARD saw composers Stephen Barton and Frederik Wiedmann taking over composing duties from Jeff Russo, and they set about reinventing the sound of the show in the classic Star Trek mold. The score is a loving homage to the best of Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner, piped through the personal sensibilities of these two excellent composers. There is so much fun, excitement, and action in this music, it’s beautifully written and orchestrated, and it’s an intentional throwback to the classic sci-fi sound of the 1980s and 90s that so many of us grew up loving, and which these composers clearly loved too. But as much as it is a tribute to the music of classic Star Trek, Barton and Wiedmann’s contributions to the thematic lexicon of the show also cannot be overlooked, with the beautiful new Crusher family theme, and the spectacular USS Titan theme standing out. This is wonderful stuff from beginning to end, and for me is clearly the standout television music of 2023.

And then of course there is the Oscar nominated score for INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY by the legendary John Williams. There’s been a lot of blowback and criticism about this score, mainly from people accusing it of being a tired rehash of earlier Indiana Jones scores. Personally, I couldn’t disagree more. Those who have criticized Dial of Destiny for relying too much on the impact of the nostalgic legacy themes are just plain wrong; if anything, the legacy themes are not used enough in the score – personally I would have liked a little more Raiders March, especially in the finale – and there were several additional opportunities to quote the Nazi music from both Raiders and Last Crusade that, for some reason, Williams did not take. Similarly, those who have criticized Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny for not having any new thematic ideas are also just plain wrong; they may not be seared into your memory, yet, in the way that the themes from previous Indiana Jones scores are, but they *are* there. Helena’s Theme drips with the stylistics of Hollywood’s Golden Age; the strings swoon and quiver with Alfred Newman-esque vibrato, the piano moves around them with beautiful cascades, and the woodwinds provide sweet, gentle accents. There are hints of previous classic Williams love themes in the overall sound and in the occasional chord progression – a little bit of Marion’s theme from Raiders, a little bit of Han Solo and the Princess from The Empire Strikes Back, a little bit of Sabrina, even – and it’s all just superb. The way Williams uses his themes is very creative too, from the action arrangements of Helena’s theme, to the multiple motifs that represent different aspects of Voller and the Nazis, the Antikythera and its associated mysteries, and even Archimedes himself. This is a compelling, exciting, emotional, intellectually stimulating score of the highest order. It’s not as good as any of the first three Indiana Jones scores and, truth be told, it probably wouldn’t crack my Top 50 Williams scores, such is the astonishing quality of his career overall – but even a low-ranked Williams score outstrips pretty much everyone else working today.

Rounding my Top 20 scores of 2023 (in alphabetical order) are: BARBIE by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER by The Newton Brothers, GODZILLA: MINUS ONE by Naoki Sato, THE LAST WIFE by Christopher Wong/Garrett Crosby/Ian Rees, THE MARVELS by Laura Karpman, ONE PIECE [S1] by Sonia Belousova and Giona Ostinelli, PLANET OF LANA [VG] by Takeshi Furukawa, RÓZYCZKA 2 by Bartosz Chajdecki, SUCCESSION [S4] by Nicholas Britell, and WILD ISLES by George Fenton.

 

COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

• CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Nominees

• LORNE BALFE
• KRIS BOWERS
• GORDY HAAB
• JOHN WILLIAMS

 

With his scores for The Piper and Nosferatu, not to mention the challenging but creative The Offering, 2023’s Composer of the Year for me is clearly CHRISTOPHER YOUNG. Young has spent the last 40 years or more writing outstanding music for a wide array of different films in different genres, but he will likely always be associated most with horror, and his three excellent efforts this year prove that his mastery of this genre is unparalleled. He writes music that is dense and complicated and sometimes viciously aggressive, but he tempers that with music of astonishing creativity and beauty, allowing the emotional depth of these sometimes grisly films to shine through. His music makes these films better in the moment, and then when you listen to them separately you can hear so much content, so much compositional excellence, so many interesting ideas and textures, that you wonder how the film in question could have inspired him to write music this good. It’s so frustrating to me how Young has been seriously under-valued and under-used by the Hollywood film music world of late – the last film of his to enjoy any kind of significant box office attention was the remake of Pet Sematary in 2019, and before that you have look back to 2011 and 2012 with scores like Sinister and Priest. Some of the scores he has written during that intervening period are outstanding, but the fact that he isn’t continually being hired to score mainstream American studio tentpoles, irrespective of genre, makes no sense to me. He’s only 65, still in his prime for a film composer, and the music he is writing shows clearly that he is at the absolute top of his game.

LORNE BALFE didn’t have any scores my top ten, but he was amazingly prolific and consistent, and his scores in 2023 included numerous excellent efforts. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was a fun and exciting fantasy adventure that blended expansive orchestral hi-jinks with English folk music and minstrel songs. Life On Our Planet was a sweeping and majestic nature documentary score. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One was another high-octane entry into the long running action-adventure series, and Tetris was a fun homage to the 8-bit sound of the classic block-stacking video game.

The same can be said for KRIS BOWERS, who again wrote numerous scores which highlighted his versatility and cashed in on his status as one of the most exciting young composers in Hollywood. This year alone he wrote a beautiful piece of period classical music for his historical drama Chevalier, a fun horror comedy score for the new version of Haunted Mansion, wrote what for me was the most memorable new TV theme of the year for the Marvel super-hero series Secret Invasion, expanded the scope of the Bridgerton franchise with pretty, romantic music for the Queen Charlotte mini series, and provided the score for the big-screen version of the Tony-winning musical based on The Color Purple. Seriously, seriously impressive.

GORDY HAAB is also building a nice career for himself, splitting his time between working on mainstream video games, and big-budget Chinese films. He has two spectacular scores this year; the aforementioned Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom Of Storms, and the video game Star Wars: Jedi – Survivor which he co-wrote with Stephen Barton. Star Wars: Jedi – Survivor is a magnificent to the Star Wars style and sound of John Williams, and although the remit was to stay within the sonic world of the classic sci-fi saga. Haab found ways to expand on that and allow his own voice to come through.

And then, speaking of JOHN WILLIAMS, he of course wrote one of the best scores of the year with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. When Dial of Destiny was first announced, and when it was revealed that John Williams would be scoring it, rumors swirled that this may be the last score the composer ever writes before retiring from film scoring for good. Williams has since contradicted that statement, saying he was mis-quoted, and has said that he would score more new films if he was offered something that was interesting to him, and if his health allowed him to do so. This is excellent news but the truth of the matter is that John Williams is 91, and virtually nobody at his age is working regularly. We have to take every opportunity to celebrate him that we can. Is this a sentimental nomination? Sure. Probably. I don’t care.

Five other composers who also had excellent years in 2023 are: STEPHEN BARTON, ALEXANDRE DESPLAT, MATHIEU LAMBOLEY, GAUTE STORAAS, and CRIS VELASCO.

 

BREAKTHROUGH COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

• ŁUKASZ ROSTKOWSKI

Nominees

• SAM EWING
• LEONARD KÜSSNER
• PAWEŁ LUCEWICZ
• FABRIZIO MANCINELLI

 

It was the year of breakthrough composers from Poland: ŁUKASZ ROSTKOWSKI, who wrote for the brilliant score for Chłopi, and PAWEŁ LUCEWICZ, who wrote the beautiful score for Znachor, both of which I discuss above. It was actually difficult for me to choose which of them I felt impressed me more, but eventually I decided to give it Rostkowski – Chłopi was his debut score, and the way he was able to leverage his prior career as a rapper and jazz musician and turn that experience into what he did on Chłopi, combining Slavic folk music with interesting, dramatic orchestral scoring, is quite something. This is not to take anything away from Lucewicz, however, whose music touched my emotions in a significant way. I hope that the success of Znachor gives him the opportunity to take on more high-profile international projects.

SAM EWING is one of the first composers to graduate out of Bear McCreary’s Sparks & Shadows organization and work on relatively major projects of his own, and he impressed me enormously with his score for the low-budget slasher flick Slotherhouse, a fully orchestral horror score where the thematic ideas are based on Ennio Morricone’s score for The Mission. This sounds insane but it works tremendously well, and is a ton of fun; Films like Slotherhouse are perfect vehicles for young composers like Sam Ewing to have fun and show what they can do, far from the pressures of studio executives with more to lose. The number of major composers who cut their teeth on low-budget horror movies before going on to greater things is enormous, and on the back of this music Sam Ewing is likely to join their ranks before long.

LEONARD KÜSSNER is a young German composer who is one of the rising stars of European classical music; he has already written ballets, chamber pieces, and operas, as well as orchestral scores for arthouse films, despite being just 30 years old. His breakout score was for the documentary Anselm, and it’s brilliant – it is traditionally orchestral, with inherent romanticism to a lot of it, and there are several cues of spectacular choral beauty. It shows Küssner to be a composer of great intelligence and sophistication, despite his age, and I can’t wait to hear what he does next.

Finally we have Italian composer FABRIZIO MANCINELLI, who has written music for a couple of projects such as The Land of Dreams and Il Viaggio Leggendario over the last couple of years, but really impressed me this year with his score for animated short Mushka which he co-wrote with the legendary Richard M. Sherman. Mancinelli intentionally channeled the sound of classic Disney in his score, and the whole thing is a delight, and fans of Disney music should be especially pleased with the results. Not only that, Mancinelli is the primary conductor and orchestrator for composer Kris Bowers, having worked with him on acclaimed works such as Green Book, The United States vs Billie Holiday, and King Richard, as well as Haunted Mansion and The Color Purple this year. Mancinelli is a triple threat, and I predict his stock will only rise from here on out.

Five other composers who impressed with breakthrough scores in 2023 are: EMILY BEAR, SAMUEL BOHN, MIKA, BLAIR MOWAT, and JEREMY ZAG.

 

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• “What Was I Made For?” from BARBIE, written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, performed by Billie Eilish (review)

Nominees:

• “Can’t Catch Me Now” from THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES, written by Dan Nigro and Olivia Rodrigo, performed by Olivia Rodrigo (review)
• “Dance the Night” from BARBIE, written by Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt, Caroline Ailin, and Dua Lipa, performed by Dua Lipa (review)
• “End of Summer” from CHŁOPI/THE PEASANTS, written by Łukasz Rostkowski, performed by L.U.C. and Rebel Babel Film Orchestra (review)
• “I’m Just Ken” from BARBIE, written by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, performed by Ryan Gosling (review)

 

The best songs of 2023 were all written for the smash hit Barbie movie, which no-one needs me to describe. The soundtrack was curated by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, and they went about putting together a wish-list of some of the most popular pop artists in the world today. But, here’s what makes Barbie’s soundtrack different from other song compilations: this music is intentional, and specific, and story driven, and best of all the music from the songs that Ronson and Wyatt wrote with these megastars informs the score too. There is crossover, and one references the other, in intelligent ways that serve the needs of what director Greta Gerwig is trying to do dramatically. This is not the norm – usually pop soundtrack albums are just slapped together to sell units – but that is not the case with the Barbie soundtrack. Each artist was tasked with writing a song for a specific scene; the specific scene then informed the song’s tone and lyrics, so much so that in some cases they specifically comment on something that is happening on-screen in a given moment. This is not normal, and is a huge part of what makes the whole thing a success.

For me the best of them is “What Was I Made For?” written by Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell, and performed by Eilish. This song is really the core of the film’s emotional narrative: it cleverly weaves themes about identity and purpose with some clever wordplay that acknowledges Barbie’s reality: that she is a doll, something that’s not real, something you paid for. It’s a slow, downbeat piece driven by a lovely stripped-down piano melody, delivered in Eilish’s now-familiar breathy falsetto. I enjoy pretty much everything Eilish does, but this is one of her best.

The other two great songs from Barbie are “Dance the Night” and “I’m Just Ken”. “Dance the Night,” written by Ronson and Wyatt with Caroline Ailin and Dua Lipa, and performed by Lipa, was actually the first song written as it features in an on-camera dance sequence featuring Lipa herself singing the song, plus a fully choreographed dance number. Musically it’s a banger – a super catchy disco rhythm, satisfying double hand claps, and a string arrangement that Gloria Gaynor would have loved – but, again, it’s self-aware. Listen to the lyrics. It starts out as a fairly standard club hit, talking about dancing and having fun, but it soon morphs into talking about the existential crisis that hits Barbie and drives the plot: about how her fun and her dance moves are masking her tears, the inner turmoil that she can’t explain.

Then there’s “I’m Just Ken,” which was written by Ronson and Wyatt and is performed in-character by Ryan Gosling. As much as “What Was I Made For” represents Barbie’s inner turmoil, this one represents Ken’s. It’s a hilarious parody of classic 80s-style power ballads that sometimes feels like a lost track from a band like Foreigner (which is perhaps appropriate, considering that Ronson’s stepfather is Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones). It’s brilliant in context, and I especially love the dance break in the middle of the song that features guitars performed by Slash from Guns n Roses, and Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang. Can you feel the kenergy?

“Can’t Catch Me Now” from THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES was written by pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo with Dan Nigro, and is performed by Rodrigo. The song is a folk-rock murder ballad, performed with a quiet intensity by Rodrigo in a breathy falsetto similar to her contemporary Billie Eilish, blended with a little bit of the country twang that Taylor Swift brought to her song “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing last year. It’s just outstanding. And then there’s “End of Summer” from Chłopi/The Peasants, written by Łukasz Rostkowski, and performed by L.U.C. and Rebel Babel Film Orchestra. The song is beautiful, lyrical, and again combines the orchestra with Slavic folk music in interesting ways; it plays a bit like a haunting contemporary Eurovision entry, and is excellent.

Other outstanding songs in 2023 include: “As Long As I Belong” from MOG’S CHRISTMAS, “Bells and Whistles” from SCHMIGADOON S2, “Look for the Light” from ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING S3, “Mushka’s Lullaby” from MUSHKA, and “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It? ” from ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING S3

 

SPECIAL AWARD

• NOSFERATU: EINE SYMPHONIE DES GRAUENS, Christopher Young

 

My irregular special award this year goes to composer Christopher Young, and his new score for the classic 1922 German expressionist horror film NOSFERATU: EINE SYMPHONIE DES GRAUENS directed by F. W. Murnau. Young was commissioned to write a new score by the Europäischen FilmPhilharmonie to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the film, and it had its world premiere performance in February 2023 at the Tonhalle in Zürich, Switzerland, performed by the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, and conducted by Frank Strobel. The score is utterly spellbinding, a horror masterpiece that ranks up with the greatest scores of his entire career, and that’s saying something for a man whose prior efforts include Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II, The Fly II, Species, Urban Legend, Bless the Child, Drag Me to Hell, Priest, and more.

I know I’m repeating what I said about The Piper, but this music is an encapsulation of everything that has ever made Young’s music great – it’s a huge Gothic horror score for the full orchestra, choir, and various specialty instruments, most notably a pipe organ, which adds a significant religioso element to the work as a whole, while also offering a throwback to the way silent films were accompanied back in the 1910s and 20s. There’s a superb, dark main theme for strings that drips with brooding romance. Brass triplets add depth, rampaging action sequences enhance the threat posed by the evil vampire at the core of the story, and moments of extreme dissonance enhance the horror. Honestly, if this had been written for a new film released in 2023, it is likely that this would have been competing for score of the year honors. As it is, it is still one of the best things I have heard this year, and I eagerly await the planned release of both the score and the film for purchase.

In the meantime, you can listen to the 10-minute suite from the film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZqKqpWdNE4, and watch a 7-minute ‘making of’ featurette here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=PNDEiYgzGvQ

 

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Hereafter, presented without additional comment, are my choices for the best scores in each of the genre categories:

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FILM

• ZNACHOR/FORGOTTEN LOVE, Paweł Lucewicz (review)

Nominees:

• THE BOYS IN THE BOAT, Alexandre Desplat (review)
• THE LAST WIFE, Christopher Wong, Garrett Crosby, Ian Rees (review)
• RÓZYCZKA 2/LITTLE ROSE 2, Bartosz Chajdecki (review)
• SALTBURN, Anthony Willis (review)

Special mentions should also go to: DOG GONE by Emily Bear, LA GUERRE DES LULUS by Mathieu Lamboley, OPPENHEIMER by Ludwig Göransson, LA SOCIEDAD DE LA NIEVE/SOCIETY OF THE SNOW by Michael Giacchino, and SWEETWATER by Jeff Cardoni.

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM

• IN LOVE AND DEEP WATER, Takatsugu Muramatsu (review)

Nominees:

• BARBIE, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt (review)
• JUSTE CIEL!/OH MY GOODNESS!, Mathieu Lamboley (review)
• OCHO APELLIDOS MARROQUÍS, Vanessa Garde (review)
• SECOND TOUR, Christophe Julien (review)

Special mentions should also go to: DEN FØRSTE JULEN I SKOMAKERGATA/CHRISTMAS ON COBBLER STREET by Gaute Storaas, HAUNTED MANSION by Kris Bowers, THE HEIST BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Samuel Bohn, LA TERNURA/THE TENDERNESS by Fernando Velázquez, and UN HOMME HEUREUX Amine Bouhafa.

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE FILM

• INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY, John Williams (review)

Nominees:

• THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES, James Newton Howard (review)
• PERTSA & KILU 2: FAARAON SORMUS/RANGERS OF THE LOST RING, Panu Aaltio (review)
• SUPERCELL, Corey Wallace (review)
• ZODI ET TÉHU, FRÈRES DU DÉSERT/PRINCES OF THE DESERT, Mika (review)

Special mentions should also go to: FAST X by Brian Tyler, HADIK by Robert Gulya, KINGDOM: UNMEI NO HONO by Yutaka Yamada, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE by Lorne Balfe, and OPERATION FORTUNE: RUSE DE GUERRE by Christopher Benstead.

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCI-FI FILM

• CREATION OF THE GODS I: KINGDOM OF STORMS, Gordy Haab (review)

Nominees:

• THE FLASH, Benjamin Wallfisch (review)
• GODZILLA: MINUS ONE, Naoki Sato (review)
• THE MARVELS, Laura Karpman (review)
• PETER PAN & WENDY, Daniel Hart (review)

Special mentions should also go to: ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA by Christophe Beck, CHUPA by Carlos Rafael Rivera, THE CREATOR by Hans Zimmer, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES by Lorne Balfe, and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 by John Murphy.

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A HORROR/THRILLER FILM

• THE PIPER, Christopher Young (review)

Nominees:

• BUNKER, Andrew Morgan-Smith (review)
• IN THE LAND OF SAINTS AND SINNERS, Diego Baldenweg, Nora Baldenweg, Lionel Baldenweg (review)
• SLOTHERHOUSE, Sam Ewing (review)
• THERE’S SOMETHING IN THE BARN, Lasse Enersen (review)

Special mentions should also go to: EL CUCO by Diego Navarro, THE DEVIL CONSPIRACY by Anne-Kathrin Dern, DOCTOR JEKYLL by Blair Mowat, THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER by Bear McCreary, and TIN & TINA by Jocelyn Pook.

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FILM

• CHŁOPI/THE PEASANTS, Łukasz Rostkowski (review)

Nominees:

• GOLD KINGDOM AND WATER KINGDOM, Evan Call (review)
• MUSHKA, Fabrizio Mancinelli and Richard M. Sherman (review)
• THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE, Brian Tyler (review)
• TAHLEQUAH THE WHALE: A DANCE OF GRIEF, Lolita Ritmanis (review)

Special mentions should also go to: THE BOY AND THE HERON by Joe Hisaishi, ELEMENTAL by Thomas Newman, JUL MED ASTRID LINDGREN/CHRISTMAS WITH ASTRID LINDGREN by Gaute Storaas, MIRACULOUS – LADY BUG & CAT NOIR, THE MOVIE Jeremy Zag, and PAW PATROL: THE MIGHTY MOVIE by Pinar Toprak.

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY

• WILD ISLES, George Fenton (review)

Nominees:

• ANSELM, Leonard Küssner (review)
• BLUE WHALES: RETURN OF THE GIANTS, Steven Price (review)
• GRIMM’S FOREST: THE NATURE OF FAIRY TALES, Steffen Kaltschmid (review)
• LIFE ON OUR PLANET, Lorne Balfe (review)

Special mentions should also go to: THE CARS WE DROVE INTO CAPITALISM by Dalibor Grubacevic, LIBRES by Oscar Martin Leanizbarrutia, MAESTRA by Anne Chmelewsky, THE PIGEON TUNNEL by Philip Glass and Paul Leonard-Morgan, and VOYAGE AU PÔLE SUD/ANTARCTICA CALLING by Cyrille Aufort.

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR TELEVISION

• STAR TREK: PICARD [S3], Stephen Barton and Frederik Wiedmann

Nominees:

• THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER [S1], The Newton Brothers (review)
• ONE PIECE [S1], Sonia Belousova and Giona Ostinelli
• SNØFALL [S2], Henrik Skram (review)
• SUCCESSION [S4], Nicholas Britell

Special mentions should also go to: AHSOKA [S1] by Kevin Kiner, THE GILDED AGE [S2] by Harry Gregson-Williams and Rupert Gregson-Williams, SCHMIGADOON [S2] by Cinco Paul and Christopher Willis, SECRET INVASION [S1] by Kris Bowers, and YURIA’S RED STRING OF FATE [S1] by Yugo Kanno.

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A VIDEO GAME

• PLANET OF LANA, Takeshi Furukawa

Nominees:

• FAE FARM, Cris Velasco
• THE LAMPLIGHTER’S LEAGUE, Jon Everist
• LORDS OF THE FALLEN, Knut Avenstroup Haugen and Cris Velasco
• STAR WARS: JEDI – SURVIVOR, Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab

Special mentions should also go to: AVATAR: FRONTIERS OF PANDORA by Pinar Toprak, DRAGONHEIR: SILENT GODS by Chad Cannon, Weijun Chen, Elliot Leung, Daniel Sadowski, Inon Zur, and Joel Santos, MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN 2 by John Paesano, SETTLERS: NEW ALLIES by Chance Thomas, and SONG OF NUNU by Cris Velasco.