Oscar 2012 - Film Score

This is another category where I had to check twice to be sure I'm not having hallucinations about what's on the list. The thing is that considering what it got here we have a more easier result to foresee, being already quite predictable even before the nomination process. And like specially set to support it we have three of five OSTs this tear which have more or less a French first half of the XXth century "air" (= accordion parts & stuff like that). So, guess about which I'm talking ... Well, maybe it's not clear enough :) Conclusion: let me go through the entries anyway, although it doesn't make much sense to get very long in what's next, all I hope for is that the audio material to stay on YouTube for at least a while from now ...

"The Adventures of Tintin" is the first surprise. Especially considering that Spielberg's production got excluded from "best animation". To be honest it was a pretty lame year for this area (and not only) and my expectation about this title were a bit bigger than a simplified and compressed story a la Indiana Jones looking like made specifically for an under 10 target (well .. maybe it's the fact that I got frozen in a cinema hall as real cause for my disappointment ...). Still, for me it sounds better for this to be here than the other nomination of John Williams (or let me say it more straightly: sounds more original to be here)



"The Artist" with the music by Ludovic Bource is clearly the winner here. Leaving the statistics aside = the Globe + other awards, it's probably the only soundtrack this year that makes itself heard when you watch the move, obviously one reason being that the movie is silent. Maybe it's a matter of taste, but generally I prefer a soundtrack that you can feel it's there (= Zimmer, Mansel, Morricone would be some examples) and not one which only is fits with the action on screen sufficiently so you won't notice the silence periods (as in the 60's or the 70's). From here comes probably also the main merit in this score = it supplements at a decent level (I can't say that I was extremely impressed) "the silence". And also I guess it has a bit more personality than the rest. Besides that .. more about "The Artist" when talking about other sections, it's enough space there to do it.



"Hugo" is the last from the series of three with the "French air" (which is normal considering the action setting). If I were to do a top probably Howard Shore would be the main candidate at this Oscar, after the one above. But as real chances it still quite far, so let's not spend to much time here ...



"Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy" with the music by Alberto Iglesias is the second surprise on this category. And one which gives me the opportunity to get a bit off-topic and say a few things about the movie because I don't know when I'll be able to do it next. It was the main title on the "must see" list for me this spring, and probably because of this I got a bit disappointed of the outcome. It's a spy thriller set somewhere in the 60's-70's (maybe there is an exact date around there, I don't remember) having as main subject the return in service of a British counter-intelligence agent having the secret mission to unmask a soviet mole infiltrated at the top of the hierarchy. The main problem of the movie is the bunch of flashbacks poorly edited (despite the fact that BAFTA threw a nomination also here .. well, it's an UK movie) which doesn't make any favor to the narrative style belonging to John le Carre ("The Russia House" with Sean Connery & Michelle Pfeiffer suffered from the same disease long ago). The soundtrack however is ok, although regarding what I said above you can't really feel it and send you to sleep once in a while (note that the piece below is an alert one). But again .. I have to refer to John le Carre, and who has seen something else adapted after him ("The Spy Who Came in from the Cold", "The Constant Gardener", etc) could probably confirm that is nothing more appropriate than a melancholic, slow tone, with slight spikes here and there, cold on each piece, but warm as a whole. However, what's missing is a sufficiently strong theme to remember ...



"War Horse" brings the second nomination this year (and a pretty predictable one considering the lack of candidates) for John Williams. I have a problem (which maybe it's a bit more taste related, I don't know ...) about the music composed by this guy. I can't argue with the cinematic character of the track, generally speaking, not only for "War Horse". But either he composed too much, either he recycled too much from what he composed, so for me it's a bit hard to listen one of his soundtracks from beginning to the end without getting bored (the exception remains "Star Wars" and specifically "The Phantom Menace"). Unfortunately it's pretty much the same case here. As I said "Tintin" sounds slightly better for me.



Finally I'll allow myself to do this year something that I've never done before = to revolt about an absence - Cliff Martinez for "Drive". Yes, I know that in "Drive" what's more obvious on the soundtrack is the songs part, and yes, I know that the idea when evaluating this category is not as much how it sounds to you when you listen in your headphones but more how it fits into the movie. I have considered these, and the verdict still stands that it deserved at least a nominee, especially compared with what got on the above list this year ....