The Oscars are upon us, the keynote event of the 2020 film award season. However, at this point the best original score category feels like a retread of this season’s prior awards competitions. Of this year’s five nominees, three have also been nominated for a Golden Globe and BAFTA (Joker, 1917, and Little Women) while the other two received at least one prior nomination (Marriage Story received a Golden Globe nomination and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker received a BAFTA nomination). Through that, Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score for Joker won both prior awards (as well as a slew of others) and remains the heavy favorite to come home with the Oscar. While there’s little intrigue to this year’s event, all five scores remain quite deserving of their nominations.
John Williams could always come away a winner, as his score for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is not only his last foray into the Star Wars universe, but possibly his last film score altogether. It is a wonderful send off to Williams and Star Wars, the culmination of forty years of some of music’s most iconic themes. The real issue, though, is whether enough of the original score stands out amidst the usage of prior timeless themes or whether this even matters. Is nostalgia and the honoring of a film legend enough to win the night?
Both Alexandre Desplat’s Little Women and Randy Newman’s Marriage Story explore the intimacy of family. The former displays more warmth, rooted in the optimism and hope abundant in childhood while the latter explores the nuanced emotional complexities of married life and the belief that things will turn out okay. Earlier in the year, Desplat’s score was one of the award season favorites and, while that view has significantly tempered, a win is still possible.
The two favorites, Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Joker and Thomas Newman’s 1917 share some thematic similarities as both explore relentlessness. Guðnadóttir takes a less traditional approach, using repeated, droning motifs to create an unstoppable, oppressive atmosphere that erodes the will and sanity of the characters (and the viewer). Newman, meanwhile, keeps a frenetic pace to match the frantic nature of war and a race against time.
Prediction
It’s clear that Guðnadóttir is the frontrunner – she’s won effectively every major award this year – and the Oscar’s are rarely about surprises. That said, the other nominated scores are certainly in play, with 1917 the most likely alternative or Williams winning as an informal lifetime achievement.
The Result
As expected, Guðnadóttir’s score for Joker won the night, basically giving her a (well deserved) clean sweep of every major award.