Personal Ballot: Best Scores, Sounds, Songs...
Sunday, January 22, 2017 at 8:42AM Though my ears aren't as fine tuned as my eyes when it comes to the cinema, I take pleasure freely from every craft. The best films are the ones that try to engage all senses. (Well, not smell. They tried that with Smell-O-Vision and it didn't work out so well.)
So here are my choices for Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing and Editing, Best Original Song and a fifth category that's kind of "off-Oscar." The Film Bitch Awards have always had a Best Adapted / Combination / Song Score category for films where the original score is only part of the defining musical sensation and the rest comes from pre-existing material or songs that are woven into the sound mix. Films honored include in these various aural categories include The Handmaiden, Arrival, Moonlight, Lion, Jackie, La La Land, Sully, The Witch, Doctor Strange, Sing Street and more. Which movies did you love listening to this year?
Reader Comments (12)
Best Original Score:
La La Land * (winner for the epilogue alone)
The Handmaiden
Nocturnal Animals
The Little Prince
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Best Original Song
Someone in the Crowd - La La Land
Up - Sing Street
Where You Are - Moana
Drive it Like You Stole It - Sing Street
Audition (The Fools Who Dream) - La La Land
I'm glad you have a category for best "combined" score, and all of your choices for that category would be all of mine. I find I notice the use of songs much more than I do the score in a movie, unless the score is particularly striking (JACKIE this year, SICARIO last year).
Original Score - Jackie
Original Song - No Dames from Hail, Caesar!
Song Score - Everybody Wants Some!!
I'm one of those people whose La La Land experience would have been improved if I liked the music more.
I haven't seen it mentioned here or anywhere else really, but I really enjoyed the Little Men soundtrack; great work once again by Dickon Hinchliffe.
'Love & Friendship' not even a semi-finalist for Adapted Score? Oh, Nathaniel...
Three scores (not counting musical scores) really stood out to me this year.
Krisha is wild. It's the perfect embodiment of the title character's inner monologue of anxiety and doubt. I keep saying this when I discuss the film, but there is literally a moment in the score where drum sticks are recorded being dropped, being picked up off the ground, and being played with again. It's genius.
The Witch is the best original horror score I've heard since The Village. It's beautiful and disturbing. I listen to it while I work and, really, only that screaming chanting track gives away the true nature of the film.
Arrival is what big cinematic sci-fi scores should be. I love it. Every note, every pause, every chord, every synth patch is planned and executed to perfection.
As for adapted scores, I've made no secret around here of my Deadpool love and I think that's one of the film's biggest assets. I'll mention The Jungle Book because the arrangement and mixing of "Trust in Me" is my favorite sound moment of the entire year--absolutely terrifying. The jazz arrangements in La La Land captured my interest more than most of the sung songs (except "The Audition").
And The Lobster occupies a weird in between space, which is fitting since the film is beautifully unhinged every step of the way.
My picks for Original Score
Jackie
The Red Turtle
The Neon Demon
Julieta
Elle
Jackie! Watched it yesterday, came home, lined up the score on youtube, and finally mustered the strength to clean out my wardrobe. Thank you Mica Levi!
"American Honey" is my Sound Mixing choice. The weaving of all that music with the multiple voices of its makeshift community is so lovely. Absolutely anthemic in effect, especially when watching it in the theater.
SCORE
Always Shine
Jackie
Krisha
La La Land
Midnight Special
SONG
La La Land – “Another Day of Sun”
Miss Sharon Jones – “I’m Still Here”
Moana – “How Far I’ll Go”
The Neon Demon – “Waving Goodbye”
Sing Street – “Drive It Like You Stole It”
SOUND DESIGN
Always Shine
Don’t Breathe
One More Time with Feeling
Silence
The Witch
SOUND EDITING
Doctor Strange
Ghostbusters
Kubo and the Two Strings
The Light Between Oceans
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
In regards to "La, La, Land", "Another Day in the Sun" was just a little more stronger to me, although I really liked "City of Stars".
I stopped caring about the Song race, when I heard "The Great Beyond", at "Sausage Party". It really needs to be nominated and win. Plus, it's Alan Menken.