I’m introducing a new music feature on this blog where I sort of create my own soundtrack for different movies I have watched recently. I came up with the idea a couple of days ago when I was listening to some of my favorite songs on my iPod and it reminded me are certain dramatic situations I have seen play out on the big screen or perfectly described a character’s motivations, feelings, or desires. So in my first edition of ‘Music Complements’, I present some songs that came to mind when I took a look back on my experience watching Terrance Malick’s To The Wonder.
… ‘cuz Leonardo DiCaprio’s downfall from the lavish life is imminent.
Previous blog posts and promotion from around the ‘net on my most anticipated film of 2013, the upcoming The Great Gatsby:
Watch this: My favorite trailer for The Great Gatsby
See this: Gatsby (DiCaprio) and Daisy (Carey Mulligan) in a promo photo from The Great Gatsby and more pictures at the new The Great Gatsby tumblr site.
Hear this: Jack White’s cover of U2’s “Love is Blindness” for the soundtrack… you can also read the whole soundtrack listing for the movie and hear samples of all the songs
Want this: Prada designed costumes for The Great Gatsby.. and for the men, the film-inspired Brooks Brothers collection.
Note this: Who loved, killed, desired who as illustrated in a character map
Read this: The best quotes from the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel… or better yet, read the whole novel online… or still better yet, have Jake Gyllenhaal read it to you.
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
[The eponymous folk singer/songwriter struggles to find his way in New York’s Greenwich Village in the 1961, loosely based on “The Mayor of Macdougal Street”, the posthumous 2005 memoir by godfather of the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene, Dave Von Ronk.]
Are you ready for more dark comedy stylings from the Coen Brothers? I am. Especially when there is a promise of some great deadpan comedy from Carey Mulligan (who knew she could deliver on that so well?). The movie also stars Oscar Issac as the title character, Justin Timberlake (a possible concern?), and John Goodman. Girls stars Adam Driver and Alex Karpovsky are also billed in the cast. No US release date as of yet but this one is slated for entry into the Cannes Film Festival.
If I had to name my one cinematic moment of 2012 that was my absolute favorite, it would have to be the 5 minutes of Anne Hathaway singing this song in the 2012 film version of “Les Miserables”. It is a breathtakingly beautiful moment when amazing direction, acting, and singing all came together. I tear up everytime. I love all the emotion and that “what has happened to my life” whisper through song. Oscar gold, Hathaway.
If you’re not familiar with the famous French novel by Victor Hugo, the musical, or the film, let me set it up for you. Hathaway plays Fantine, a poor factory worker who relies on her wages to take care of her secret illegitimate daughter Cosette, who was sent to live with an inn keeper and his wife. Her daughter’s father abandoned Fantine after a short affair; it’s up to Fantine to make ends meet. When she her secret is discovered, she is fired and is forced into prostitution to make money. In this song, Fantine reflects on her broken dreams, the state of her life, and her lost love.
2012: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Jamie Foxx, and Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained
My Take: I loved Django Unchained when I attended a special advance screening a few weeks ago. I called it a “smart, sly, witty, touching, and informative look at a slave-revenge narrative that it didn’t water down the portrayal of slavery or its impact on those it affected but does find humor in unexpected places” on social media after I walked out of the theater. From it’s modern use of the western genre to the great cameos from Franco Nero, Jonah Hill, and QT himself to the seemingly simple story of a man doing everything in his power to reclaim the live of his life, Django Unchained stays true to the Tarantino repertoire of films including his special attention given to the accompanying music (there isn’t a moment that you don’t know you’re watching a Tarantino movie) but this one takes the viewer on a journey to a different Tarantino-esque world. This is a world where a free Black man can be bounty hunter in the pre-Civil War and take revenge on the system that made him a prisoner and victim for most of his life. Some choose to harp on the fact that this is historically inaccurate; I choose to revel in the tiny bit of justice afforded to Django that was not to others in his position in history. I think people are looking at this as a slavery movie which it isn’t: it is a movie that uses slavery as a backdrop to a man’s revenge on people who took away his dignity and a system that disregards those he has a kinship with. It is a movie that offers some sly winks and clever peaks (I wholeheartedly disagree with critics who claim that the movie isn’t “clever enough”) into the fine line that differentiates slavery from the economics and morality of using someone for your own needs and your own means to an end, how those that claimed superiority maybe have been inferior in intellect, and how the enemy, in many cases, wore the face of oppressed. The only misstep in this movie for me was the last 15 minutes or so which bordered being contrived just in order to leave the audience with some satisfaction at the end. Leonardo DiCaprio was the standout performance for this for his portrayal of a man the could easily be the face of this brutal institution in how he rationalizes it and takes enjoyment in it; he deserves the Oscar. My Grade: A-
Can’t get enough of reading about Django Unchained? Here are some posts from around the web featuring commentary on the film and its cast:
Happy Halloween, everyone! I will admit that I’ve never been one for Halloween after I entered adulthood. I lived for the candy hoarding as a kid, but now that I’m an adult I don’t have much enjoyment in it. I’m not really one to dress up nor do I seek out Halloween parties. I do think though that if I was ever asked to participate in a group costume, I would be all for it (just putting it out there!); for some reason, that really appeals to me. One time I even tried to get my graduate school lab to dress up as X-Men (I really had my heart of being Storm!) but to no avail. Oh well. I do appreciate how much many people get into it and enjoy it…
So, here is a small post on my favorite scary movie and short for to send you off to enjoy the night!
FAVORITE SCARY FILM: The Ring
Interesting thing about me - I LOVE scary movies but I hardly ever watch them. Why? Because I freak myself out so much that if I watch them I will have trouble sleeping for days. I’ll be convinced that I hear some noise or see something moving in the dark. Yeah, I know it’s all psychological, and I’m doing more to scare myself than the movie, but it gets to me every the time. If I do watch them it’s with a friend and in the middle of the day so it’s light out when I get out of the theater/leave home and so I have time to forget about it all before I go to sleep (I saw Paranormal Activity with my friend Cortney at 1pm on a Saturday afternoon, ha!). Well, one movie that I did see and REALLY got under my skin was The Ring, which I saw doing college. It’s probably my favorite scary movie, and one that I think was crafted with its montages of seemingly ordinary shots that were oh so creepy. I wouldn’t leave my television on a channel with static or watch a VHS tape for the longest. I still shudder at the thought of the girl climbing out of the TV…. I even remember watching it a second time in the dorms with friends where I was the only one who had seen it. I was also the only one hiding under the covers while my friends looked at me like I was crazy, lol. I love that The Ring can still do that to me…
Another day, another blogathon. This week I sent in my recommendation for the “Paris in Genre” blogathon being run by Eternity of Dream. The object of this was to recommend in a few sentences a movie about Paris or set in Paris in one of the film genres. After everyone has submitted there recommendations, there will be one film for each genre for anyone in the mood for a Paris film (the entire list has now been posted). The genre for my recommendation is Music and for it, I revisited Hotel Chevalier (the prologue to The Darjeeling Limited) by Wes Anderson. Read my recommendation:
I don’t have alot of experience with the work of Wes Anderson beyond the wonderful The Royal Tenenbaums (which have forever changed my perspective on the versatility of active wear and the casual nature of fur coasts), however, in my recent reintroduction to the quirky, maddened creativity of writer/director Anderson, I discovered the short film Hotel Chevalier which serves as a companion opening film to his 2007 film The Darjeeling Limited. Set the in fictitious Parisian Hotel Chevalier, featuring the pair of Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman, it tell the story of a brief encounter between American exs who just can’t seem to let each other go. The film showcases the Paris-inspired song “Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?” by Peter Sarstedt which we hear as we are introduced to Portman’s character, a women who tracks down her former lover and intrudes on his solace emotionally and physically. The song parallels what is implied in the film; this is a woman who possess enviable loveliness but is sadly trapped in a continued search to find contentment, ultimately bringing her to Paris. If you are so inclined, watch the entire 13-minute film here.
I don’t know about you but ever since the new trailer for the upcoming remake film adaptation The Great Gatsby was released, I have been enthralled with the music Baz Luhrman and his team decided to use in it. It’s not so much the JayZ/Kanye West song “No Church in the Wild” at the beginning that grabbed me (though that is a great song I think to illustrate the tensions between lavish hedonistic lifestyles, the “worship” of wealth, and its connection or lack thereof to a higher power that existed in the 20s and today), but this song, an original of U2’s called “Love is Blindness” sung by Jack White. He apparently did this cover as a part of the 20th anniversary of the 1991 album Achtung Baby. While the original version was calm and mellow, this version is so passionate and severely emotive.
My question to you is, what other movie would you say this song is perfect for if you should choose the music for its soundtrack?
