Oscars 2003: The Return of Sand and Fog
By Cary Wong
If this year's Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score
reflect any trend in film composing, it would have to be a rise in
popularity of moody and ambient scores, as opposed to big, thematic
efforts. This is good news for a style of scoring that has been largely
ignored by the Academy. The Oscars have continuously dismissed exciting
composers like Carter Burwell, Mychael Danna, Angelo Badalamenti,
Michael Nyman and (with the recent exception of the more thematic Lord of the Rings movies) Howard
Shore. Unfortunately, the fact that these guys are now being noticed is
not necessarily good news for film score fans who love a strong melody
into which they can sink their teeth.
Interestingly, though all five nominees are all worthy scores, it seems
like the exception to this new trend might just rule them all...
Here's a closer look at the five nominees.
Original Score
House of Sand and Fog -- James
Horner (Varese Sarabande)
In a year when he scored four high profile movies, the Academy chose to
nominate James Horner's score to the most artistic of the bunch. House of Sand and Fog received
three overall nominations. The other films Horner scored (The Missing, Radio and Beyond Borders) received a combined
zero nominations. I personally enjoyed all of his scores this year but
I thought The Missing, with
its rousing themes and exciting chase music, would be the perfect
choice for Oscar distinction. But The
Missing unexpectedly tanked at the box office. Horner's score
for House was a powerful
element in the film, but it's hardly memorable outside the atmosphere
created by the super-depressing movie.
Cold Mountain -- Gabriel Yared
(Columbia)
Considering its supporting a big Civil War drama, Yared's score is
remarkably subdued. But since the movie is more of a character drama
than an actual war movie, this was probably the way to go. This is
certainly the most unabashedly romantic score in the bunch, and the
four tracks on the CD release highlight this. But, the lack of a
musical hook outside the beautiful love theme may leave listeners
without much of an impression.
Finding Nemo -- Thomas Newman
(Disney)
Thomas Newman gave the latest Pixar masterpiece a very different feel
than the one his cousin Randy Newman added to the previous four.
Wondrous and fun, Nemo does
lack themes for the movie's characters, opting for a general mood
rather than a sing-a-long-able melody for the kiddies to latch onto.
There's no "You've Got a Friend in Me" here. The fact that the album
has over 40 cues makes it hard to embrace, but the score as heard in
the movie is plain wonderful.
Big Fish -- Danny Elfman (Sony
Classical)
What was supposed to be director Tim Burton's bid for an artistic adult
movie was greeted with cynicism and critical ambivalence. Add to that
the embarrassing opening-wide weekend when the producers claimed to be
number one at the box office, but actually came in second to Lord of the Rings. So, it's amazing
that this remarkable film was able to pull off a sole nomination for
Elfman's most mature score -- one of the biggest surprises of this
year's nominations. Although the score is stylistically diverse (to
match the storytelling aspect of the movie), it coalesces beautifully
into a nice theme during the finale.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of
the King -- Howard Shore (Warner Brothers)
Yes, it's epic and it's heroic, but it's also the most elegiac score of
the trilogy, what with the extended and suitably sentimental endings of
the many story lines. I'm not saying that Shore's score is sentimental
is any way, but it is certainly the most wistful score to a fantasy
film in recent memory.
PREDICTION: Look for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the
King to make sushi out of its two closest competitors. Although
Shore has won before (for Lord of
the Rings, no less), I think it is his award to lose. With no
acting nomination to give the film, I think the Academy voters will give The Return of the King a bulk of
the technical awards, including Shore's magnificent finale score.
Sentimental votes may go to Finding
Nemo (the highest grossing movie of 2003) and the fact that
Thomas Newman's winless streak is approaching Randy Newman-esque
proportions.
WINNER: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the
King
POSSIBLE UPSET: Finding Nemo
Original Song
It looks like the Music Branch actually listened to the songs this year
instead of falling back to the usual suspects (i.e.: Elton John and
Phil Collins). The nomination of two songs from Cold Mountain is a little
surprising, but with a high pedigree producer in T. Bone Burnett, nice
song-writing contributions from high-profile Sting and Elvis Costello
and wonderful performances by bluegrass star Alison Krauss, the
nominations are worthy. But they will cancel each other out. And how
wonderful it is to see the title song from The Triplets of Belleville get a
nomination. It's an infectious and bouncy song, but the fact that it's
sung in French may not help its chances.
A Mighty Wind was a
disappointing film in the pantheon of Christopher Guest's
mockumentaries, but it still had many laughs and has many fans in the
film industry. It's ironic that the nomination for "A Kiss at the End
of the Rainbow" is more for the fact that it's a nice little song
instead of the parody of a folk song it should have been. Still, the
chance to see Lenny Kosnowski from
Laverne and Shirley win an Oscar is enough for me to root for
this song.
But, the foregone conclusion is that "Into the West" from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the
King will get this award as well. By enlisting the
well-respected Annie Lennox (as opposed to the New Age-y Enya and the
other worldly Emiliana Torrini in the earlier films) to perform this
lovely song, Shore has given the Oscar voters something familiar to
latch onto when marking their ballots, especially since none of the
nominated songs made the Billboard Top 200.
WINNER: "Into the West" from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the
King
POSSIBLE UPSET: "A Kiss at the
End of the Rainbow" from A Mighty
Wind
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