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Under-the-Radar Round Up 2017, Part 4
Original Reviews by Jonathan Broxton
The fourth installment in my annual series of articles looking at the best “under the radar” scores from around the world sees us back in France, with a look at a wonderful octet of scores from films made in one of the world’s great cinematic nations. This set of scores ranges across every genre imaginable, and includes one by a controversial double Oscar-winner, two by beloved staples of classic French cinema, and two by one of the most impressive newcomers to emerge in 2017.
THE BOOK OF LIFE – Gustavo Santaolalla
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Book of Life is an animated film with a Mexican influence, directed by Jorge Gutierrez and co-produced by Guillermo Del Toro. It tells the story of two gods – La Muerte and Xibalba – who rule over two different realms of the spirit world, and who make a bet with each other when they realize that two young brothers, Manolo and Joaquin, are in love with the same young girl, Maria. Manolo grows up to be a bullfighter, but dreams of being a musician, while Joaquin becomes a soldier, defending his village from a bandit. Eventually, a terrible turn of events requires Manolo to journey from the real world and into the magical, mythical and wondrous spirit world in order to rescue his one true love and defend his village. The film, which has a spectacular visual style based on Mexican Día de Muertos iconography, has an interesting voice cast that includes Diego Luna, Channing Tatum, Zoe Saldana, and Ron Perlman, and features music from composer Gustavo Santaolalla and songwriter Paul Williams. Read more…
THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE – Johan Söderqvist, Gustavo Santaolalla
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
It’s been a popular pastime, of late, amongst film music aficionados, to engage in the new sport of Santaolalla-bashing. Ever since the Argentinean won back-to-back Best Score Oscars, for Brokeback Mountain in 2005 and Babel in 2006, fans of the traditional orchestral score have been up in arms, decrying his popularity and success as both inexplicable and downright appalling. I have to admit, my voice has often joined those criticizing Santaolalla’s scoring techniques. So, let me step back for a moment, and consider things with a more level head. He is an excellent guitarist, of that there is no doubt, bringing a level of delicacy and intimacy to his performances which is quite lovely. He can write a decent enough tune, and he does have enough basic dramatic sense to understand what his films need, and how to provide it. Read more…
Academy Award Winners 2006
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the winners of the 79th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2006.
In the Best Original Score category, Argentine composer Gustavo Santaolalla won the Academy Award for his score for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Babel. It was Santaolalla’s second consecutive Oscar win in the category. In his acceptance speech Santaolalla said:
Thank you so much, members of the Academy. In our soul rests, I think, our own true identity beyond languages, countries, races and religions. I’m so proud to work in “Babel,” a film that helped us understand better who we are and why and what are we here for. A few thanks: I want to thank John Lesher, Brad Grey, Jon Kilik, Steve Golin, Robert Messinger, Lynn Fainchtein, Anibal Kerpel, my wife Alejandra, my kids Anna, Luna, Don Juan, my mother. The man, my mentor, director and friend, mi amigo, Alejandro González Iñárritu. And last but not least, I want to dedicate this to my dad, para vos viejo, para Argentina, and once again, para todos Latinos. Gracias. Thank you.
The other nominees for Best Original Score were Thomas Newman for The Good German, Philip Glass for Notes on a Scandal, Javier Navarrete for Pan’s Labyrinth, and Alexandre Desplat for The Queen.
In the Best Original Song category, American singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge won the Academy Award for “I Need to Wake Up” from Davis Guggenheim’s environmentally-themed documentary An Inconvenient Truth. The victory was significant because it marked the first time a song written for a documentary had won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
The other nominees for Best Original Song were Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler and Anne Preven for “Listen” from Dreamgirls; Henry Krieger and Siedah Garrett for “Love You I Do” from Dreamgirls; Randy Newman for “Our Town” from Cars; and Henry Krieger and Willie Reale for “Patience” from Dreamgirls.
BABEL – Gustavo Santaolalla
Original Review by Clark Douglas
So this is what it feels like on the other side. Last year, I wrote an very positive review of Paul Haggis’ “Crash”. In fact, I went so far as to call it the year’s best film. I spent a good portion of time arguing with others who said the film was cheap, overdramatic, and contrived. Now, here is “Babel”, which is receiving reviews eerily similar to those “Crash” received, and they’re just as divided… some critics call it a complex and thought-provoking masterpiece, others call it hokey rubbish. This time around, I absolutely agree with the dissenters, for some of their reasons, and for some of my own. “Babel” was directed by the talented Alejandro González Iñárritu, who also made the acclaimed “21 Grams” and “Amores Perros”. Both of those films were contrived, but convincing. Not so here. Read more…
Academy Award Winners 2005
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the winners of the 78th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2005.
In the Best Original Score category, Argentine composer Gustavo Santaolalla won the Academy Award for his score for director Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, a tender love story about two gay cowboys in rural Montana struggling to reconcile their sexuality. In his acceptance speech Santaolalla said:
Thank you so much, members of the Academy. I’m so proud to have work in this movie, “Brokeback Mountain,” a movie that once again shows us that love is what makes us all very similar in spite that we can be so different, too. I want to thank a few people. I want to thank Ang Lee for his vision, his support, his guidance. I want to thank Diana Ossana, Larry McMurtry and Annie Proulx for their inspiration; James Schamus and David Linde, everybody at Focus; Kathy Nelson; Robert Messinger at First Artists; my co-producer and brother Anibal Kerpel; my orchestrator David Campbell; Bob Bernstein; Ron Goldstein. I want to thank my family: my wife Alejandra, my kids Anna, Luna and Don Juan. And last but not least, I want to dedicate this to my mother, a mi madre; to my country, Argentina; and to all the Latinos, para todos Latinos. Muchas gracias. Thank you.
The other nominees for Best Original Score were Alberto Iglesias for The Constant Gardener, John Williams for Memoirs of a Geisha, John Williams for Munich, and Dario Marianelli for Pride & Prejudice.
In the Best Original Song category, Jordan Houston (Juicy J), Cedric Coleman (Frayser Boy) and Paul Beauregard (DJ Paul) won the Academy Award for the hip-hop rap song “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from Craig Brewer’s Hustle & Flow.
The other nominees for Best Original Song were Kathleen “Bird” York and Michael Becker for “In the Deep” from Crash, with lyrics by York; and Dolly Parton for “Travelin’ Thru” from Transamerica.
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN – Gustavo Santaolalla
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
When I first read the plot summary of Brokeback Mountain, I half-wondered whether it was a joke at the expense of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, specifically the episode of South Park where Cartman attends the Sundance film festival and loudly complains that “every fucking independent movie is about gay cowboys in Wyoming!” This is because Brokeback Mountain is, in fact, a movie about gay cowboys in Wyoming. It also happens to he a very, very good one, and is fully deserving of all the critical praise it has been receiving. Adapted from Annie Proulx’s short story by Lonesome Dove writer Larry McMurtry, and directed with sensitivity by Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, two young men – a ranch hand and a rodeo cowboy – who meet in the summer of 1963 while working on a sheep farm in rural Wyoming, and unexpectedly embark on a brief, but passionate, homosexual encounter with each other. Read more…
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