The 2022 awards season draws to a close with the EE BAFTAs, the second-to-last major ceremony of the year, airing later tonight. This year’s best original score nominees are largely familiar faces at this point in the season, with Hans Zimmer’s Dune and Jonny Greenwood’s The Power of the Dog being the betting favorites. Though there aren’t necessarily any surprise nominees, Daniel Pemberton’s Being the Ricardos and Nicholas Britell’s Don’t Look Up were certainly a little unexpected, and help shore up the representation for somewhat more traditional orchestral scores.
The real surprise is that the BAFTAs seem to have largely avoided catching flak for their lack of diversity in nominees, particularly in light of Germaine Franco’s relative success this year for Encanto. Read on to find out a little bit about each score, and be sure to check each out as they’re all worth a listen.
Nominees:
- Being the Ricardos – Daniel Pemberton (Interview)
- Don’t Look Up – Nicholas Britell
- Dune – Hans Zimmer *Winner*
- The French Dispatch – Alexandre Desplat
- The Power of the Dog – Jonny Greenwood
BEING THE RICARDOS
First time BAFTA film nominee Daniel Pemberton dives headfirst into a 1950s Hollywood score for Being the Ricardos. Pemberton creates a dream world, a picturesque romance of lush strings, wistful piano, and other orchestral elements (with occasional Cubano influences) that slowly collapses. Like all dreams, it’s fleeting. Though Pemberton may not be a favorite to win, it’s refreshing to see him gain some more critical recognition; given the young composer’s already stellar career, it’s long overdue.
DON’T LOOK UP
Don’t Look Up sees Nicholas Britell snag his second BAFTA nomination. Britell’s score mixes big band jazz, orchestral work, and some electronic flourishes to accompany Adam McKay’s social satire. The biggest challenge Britell faced – and what he should be most lauded for – is managing the delicate balance between serious and comedy; lean too far to the former and it threatens to override the jokes, too far to the latter and the film becomes a parody of itself.
DUNE
Despite now receiving ten BAFTA film nominations, Hans Zimmer has never won. This surprised me. Fortunately for Zimmer, Dune is the odds-on favorite to win (followed closely behind by The Power of the Dog). It feels like a lifelong culmination of Zimmer’s work, focusing his years of craft to score a project he’s been dreaming about since he first read Frank Herbert’s novel over four decades ago. Although less risky and unorthodox than the companion piece The Dune Sketchbook, Zimmer’s Dune is dense, ominous, and truly overwhelming. A multitude of themes and motifs interweave across the galaxies, spelled out in electronic, orchestral, rock, and choral palettes.
THE FRENCH DISPATCH
Alexandre Desplat has actually received the most BAFTA accolades out of this year’s nominees, with eleven nominations and three wins to his name. Though The French Dispatch has garnered less attention than some of the other nominated scores, it’s nonetheless appeared on most awards’ and critics’ lists (though notably absent from the Oscars). The reason is clear: it’s a delightful, eccentric score that adds whimsy and levity to Wes Anderson’s film. Desplat gives a unique musical identity to each of the film’s three main vignettes, as well as to The French Dispatch newspaper itself, relishing in the film’s period French setting. Although the film has surprisingly serious subject matter, including riots, kidnapping, and murder, the score manages to keep a smile on your face.
THE POWER OF THE DOG
For those that paint the Western genre in broad, superficial strokes as primarily cowboys and Indians, black hats versus white hats, and a vehicle for masculinity, The Power of the Dog comes as a surprise. Greenwood’s score is subversive, with its unorthodox palette that includes cellos pretending to be banjos and detuned, mechanical pianos. But, more notably, it’s a Western score that’s more interested in interpersonal subtext than reverence for the landscape. It’s an incredibly clever, intellectual score that can require numerous listens to penetrate its complexities.