It is no secret that Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite focuses upon class inequality, tension, and mobility. Composer Jung Jae Il’s supremely elegant score embodies this struggle. The early moments of the score are rather sparse, largely consisting of Jung introducing […]
With Monos, Mica Levi has further established themselves as the foremost contemporary experimental film composer, using dissonance and unconventional instrumentation and composition to build tension and unease. The score’s most striking music is also its most jarring. Sounds akin to […]
Howl is in many ways a cinematic ode to poetry. The film makes a deliberate choice as to when and whether to use music in its two portrayals of the titular poem. Allen Ginsberg’s public debut of “Howl” at the Six […]
Despite the ever-present strife and squalor in The King, Nicholas Britell’s score brings a sense of majesty to Hal’s transition from prince into King Henry V. The clearest example of this is during Prince Hal’s coronation. As grandiose images of […]
What creates a supervillain? Most commonly it’s something supernatural, otherworldly, or otherwise impossible to experience in our world. But Joker – and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score – shows a different kind of origin, one in which the villain is molded […]
Borrowing from a concept he first explored in The Witch, Mark Korven‘s score for The Lighthouse gives a voice to the film’s monolithic “Lighthouse.” A monotonous, deafening wail roars out intermittently, overwhelming everything. This is the call of the Lighthouse, […]
Drone and ambient have increasingly found their way into film music in recent years. However, most of these scores, like Annihilation or First Reformed, stay relatively approachable for those less comfortable with these genres. MMMD (pronounced Mohammad) take these genres […]
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have solidified their niche as composers of the desolate and decayed. Although they’ve occasionally veered off into the post-apocalyptic, their scores most commonly find themselves in hopeless neo-westerns. The duo’s score for Taylor Sheridan’s directorial […]
What does it mean to be human? Is it to be loved, to face conflict, to make choices and feel their consequences? In Mica Levi’s score for Under the Skin humanity is anxiety, fear, and isolation. Those fleeting positive moments […]
The world is slowly dying, but the dead aren’t. Sqürl’s (the musical duo of director Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan) score for Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die provides the perfect foil: meandering, darkened drone against the film’s silly meta-comedy backdrop. […]
There can be catharsis in even the deepest grief. Such is the case in Bobby Krlic’s score for Midsommar, in which he manages to salvage warmth and respite from a slow decay into madness and sorrow. People have immediately compared […]
Sometimes looks can be deceiving. The film title Clownface, for instance, did not inspire much optimism. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised as Hans Hess’ score proved to be more interesting and dynamic than the film’s name let on. Hess hits […]