Editor's note: Welcome to the eighteenth of a 33-part series dissecting the 83rd Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every day leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category of the Oscars. To read any other posts regarding this event, please click the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!
by Robert of His Eyes Were Watching Movies
The Best Original Score category is arguably one of the most polarizing at the entire Academy Awards. It makes sense – after all, music is so subjective, and what one person loves another person may totally despise. However, this year’s lineup is slightly more successful than usual. Since many of the year’s most passionately adored scores were deemed ineligible (“Black Swan”, “True Grit”, “I Am Love”, and “Scott Pilgrim VS The World” for example) the amount of scores the academy had to choose from was significantly lowered, and there seems to be something for everyone in their ultimate choices. So, ladies and gentlemen, an as-objective-as-possible look at the 2011 Oscar nominees for Best Original Score.
by Robert of His Eyes Were Watching Movies
The Best Original Score category is arguably one of the most polarizing at the entire Academy Awards. It makes sense – after all, music is so subjective, and what one person loves another person may totally despise. However, this year’s lineup is slightly more successful than usual. Since many of the year’s most passionately adored scores were deemed ineligible (“Black Swan”, “True Grit”, “I Am Love”, and “Scott Pilgrim VS The World” for example) the amount of scores the academy had to choose from was significantly lowered, and there seems to be something for everyone in their ultimate choices. So, ladies and gentlemen, an as-objective-as-possible look at the 2011 Oscar nominees for Best Original Score.
The King’s Speech – Alexandre Desplat
Unbelievably prolific Alexandre Desplat is back at the Oscars with his fourth nomination. It’s interesting because a lot of people were hoping for Desplat’s score for “The Ghost Writer” would get the nomination instead, and Desplat’s no stranger to having a superior score being snubbed for another in a movie about royalty (his score for “The Painted Veil” in 2007 was replaced by “The Queen” at the Oscars). Nonetheless, Desplat still does commendable work with “Speech”. His simple themes are orchestrated and harmonized beautifully, utilizing a mix of strings with a gentle lead piano and celesta that has become somewhat of a trademark for the composer. It’s also important to note that many important sequences of the film use the music of an even more lauded composer than Desplat – Beethoven. Musical selections from a couple of Ludwig Von’s symphonies are prominent and make of the most effective pieces of the soundscape. Even so, that probably won’t keep this perfectly charming score from winning, since it seems like “Speech” is ready to take home a lot of awards on Oscar night and Desplat could be considered overdue.
How to Train Your Dragon – John Powell
John Powell, who has been doing great work for years on films like “Shrek”, “Kung Fu Panda” and others, has finally received his first Oscar nomination for his transcendent scoring of “How to Train Your Dragon”. The score is, possibly, the best thing about “Dragon”. It helps that the film has some great flying and fighting sequences where Powell can show off his skills but he rises to the challenge perfectly with a soul-riveting main theme orchestrated with a fantastic mix of soaring orchestral strings and powerful brass at the forefront. Powell also avoids the trap many cinematic composers fall into – he never allows the more sensitive or soft moments of the score to become boring. It probably won’t win but hopefully this nomination will mean more recognition for Powell in the future.
127 Hours – A.R. Rahman
I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who thought that AR Rahman’s Oscar win two years ago would be his only time at the Kodak. Even though I personally like the score to “Slumdog Millionaire” quite a bit, it just seemed like Rahman’s style wasn’t suited for the Oscars. But alas! Here he is again, with a more restrained work that is probably the most divisive of the bunch. I think the score’s style can be divided into three varieties – “Touching Strings”, “Skateboard Commercial”, and “Uncomfortable Guitar Riffs”. Of course, that’s not to knock on it, as it does greatly enhance and work for the film. But when one compares Rahman’s work to that of his competitors, it just seems a bit amateurish. Not to mention that since Rahman was forced to take a more traditional approach, everything that made his work on “Slumdog” exciting is missing here. It’s a fine nominee and I think the film is fantastic, but it has a much better chance in the Best Song category (almost everything from the "Touching Strings" category is just an instrumental arrangement of If I Rise anyway).The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
After “The Hurt Locker”’s surprising (but totally deserved) score nomination last year, it seemed like perhaps the Academy’s music tastes were possibly becoming a bit more progressive. With "The Social Network"'s equally untraditional nomination, the music branch is proving that notion right. Reznor and Ross’s work is superb in that it works perfectly for the film but also stands alone very well. The score features a mix of unique electronic instruments (including a one-of-a-kind machine called the “swarmotron”, which is responsible for those foreboding sustained tones you hear) but couples these instruments with emotionally resonant acoustic instruments. Though the whole soundtrack is fantastic, the track “Hand Covers Bruise”, which appears thrice in the film, is easily the standout – as the theme of the film it sets the tone immediately and lets you know exactly what kind of film that “The Social Network” is going to be. This is a very likely spoiler since it won the Globe and is such strong work but its untraditional nature may keep it from the big prize.
Inception – Hans Zimmer
For me, Hans Zimmer is very hit or miss. I often find his scores to be a bit obnoxiously loud – case in point, the booming horns that have become “Inception”’s unmistakable calling card. I will admit though, the rest of Zimmer’s work for the film is quite good, and serves as a very effective backdrop for the action happening onscreen. The driving rhythmic layers are repetitive to the point of being almost irritating, but there’s no denying that they’re riveting. It’s in the emotional sections, however, where Zimmer truly excels, using an almost minimalist structure that builds up a simple harmonic progression with more and more instruments and supporting them all with heart-pounding percussion, until the music reaches a peak of unparalleled intensity. The score does lag in its softer moments (I’m telling you, Zimmer can only write well when he’s writing loudly) but since there aren’t many of those in “Inception”, it’s not much of a problem. Zimmer hasn’t won since “The Lion King”, so his overdue status and the chance to give “Inception” some recognition could make this a very likely spoiler.
Who was SNUBBED?!
Well, considering most of the potentially “OMG THAT WUZ TTLY SNUBBED” scores weren’t even eligible, there weren’t too many shocking omissions. It seemed like Danny Elfman’s “Alice in Wonderland” or Rachel Portman’s “Never Let Me Go” were very possible nominees since the scores received some precursor attention and the composers are Academy favorites, but they didn’t make the cut – and really, either of those scores would have been a lesser choice to any of the ones that did make it. Other scores that probably weren’t close to a nomination but totally deserved more recognition include “Rabbit Hole” (Anton Sanko), “Mother and Child” (Edward Shearmur), and “Tangled” (Alan Menken).
Who I'm Rooting For: My personal favorite is by far "The Social Network", with "How to Train Your Dragon" in a close second. I just love them both, though I'd be happy with any of these winning! Except..."127 Hours"...and "Inception" and...oh who am I kidding. "Social Network" FTW!
So what were your favorite scores of the year? Do you agree with the Academy's choices? Sound off in the comments! :)
