2005 Calvins: Best Use of Music
By Kim Hollis
February 14, 2005
At BOP, we love music and we obsess over movies. As such, it's only natural that we would have a category that recognizes the synergy between the two. Unlike the Academy Awards and other similar ceremonies, which give recognition only to complete musical scores, our prize goes to the film that makes the best use of music. This means that any film can be recognized - including stuff like Moulin Rouge!, which found itself ineligible come Oscar time.
This year, our winner is Garden State, which makes marvelous use of a stellar soundtrack to impart mood, theme and impact. What results is an all-encompassing, trippy, lush musical accompaniment that fits the film like a glove. Probably the most impacting moment in the film comes at the end, when the wonderful song "Let Go" by Frou Frou puts a punctuation mark - you can decide whether it's exclamation, question, or ellipses - on a story that is deeply personal and emotionally resonant.
Coming up in the two spot is the Western-oriented soundtrack for Kill Bill Vol. 2. Where the first film was principally centered around Asian music and themes, the finale is more aligned to the Spaghetti Western side of things. You'll hear the Latin rhythms of Chingon's "Malaguena Salerosa, Ennio Morricone's musical scores from such stuff as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Il mercinario, and even a bit of Johnny Cash. As the second segment of the film devolves to more talking and fewer fisticuffs, the music follows suit.
The success of the music in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind lies primarily on the shoulders of composer Jon Brion, who is starting to make a career of crafting quirky and original music to match the movies with which they play (he also did the soundtrack for the equally idiosyncratic I Heart Huckabees in 2004). Along with his eclectic melodies, the Polyphonic Spree surprisingly fits the mood perfectly. The closing song, Beck's Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime is a haunting, note-perfect final touch.
Director Wes Anderson always recognizes the vitality of music in his films, and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou is no exception. He utilizes song a bit differently than he has in past films, though. In fact, Belafonte crew member Pelé dos Santos' relentless efforts to turn various David Bowie songs into light guitar-accompanied Portuguese versions is central to Life Aquatic's plot. Along with that, some "real" David Bowie music plays an important part in the movie's themes and story, with Life on Mars and Queen Bitch being the most noteworthy. Throw in some Iggy and the Stooges at a crucial point and you've got a huge winner.
And then there's Fahrenheit 9/11, where director Michael Moore makes best use of music for comic effect. We get to hear the Go-Go's Vacation to emphasize George W. Bush's many, many days spent on the golf course in his first months in office. The theme from the Greatest American Hero also gets some play, not to mention the Bloodhound Gang's Fire Water Burn. Along with those songs, Jeff Gibbs' instrumentals really are terrific in their own right.
Rounding out the top ten comes Ray at number six, which finishes on the list for what has to be obvious reasons. Other than Jamie Foxx's performance, the music of Ray Charles, which peppers the film, is the primary and best reason to watch. Michael Giacchino's fabulous score for The Incredibles, which evokes superhero stuff of the '50s, also deserves a spot here. Collateral, if for no other reason than its canny use of Audioslave's Shadow on the Sun, shows up in eighth place. Ninth and tenth are the terrific soundtrack to The Aviator, which was ineligible for the Academy Awards, and John Williams' fantastic score for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which was nominated.
Barely missing the cut were soundtracks/music for The Girl Next Door and The Saddest Music in the World.
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Top 10
|
| Position |
Film |
Total Points |
| 1 |
Garden State |
85 |
| 2 |
Kill Bill Vol. 2 |
76 |
| 3 |
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind |
74 |
| 4 |
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou |
57 |
| 5 |
Fahrenheit 9/11 |
54 |
| 6 |
Ray |
48 |
| 7 |
The Incredibles |
47 |
| 8 |
Collateral |
45 |
| 9 (tie) |
The Aviator |
34 |
| 9 (tie) |
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban |
34 |
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