For the new horror film "Pearl," Tyler Bates and Timothy Williams were clearly given specific direction from Ti West to compose a lush and romantic mid-20th century style score. Modern directors, even when making a period piece, generally and expressly *do not* direct composers to ever go this route, so it's always a real treat when a score like this is created for a present day film/tv show. It gives somebody like me hope, at least. And for once, a big and lush score is being praised by film critics rather than trashed for being "old fashioned" or whatever critics usually call this sort of score.
Maybe the best score I've heard for a movie this year...and a guy I was discussing the film with while we were exiting even named-dropped Franz Waxman and Bernard Herrmann!
I haven't heard the entire score for "Pearl" yet, but the track I posted reminds me a little bit of "Escape from Tomorrow" by Abel Korzeniowski. It's soaring and lush.
This is unbelievably gorgeous at first...but it certainly takes a drastic, sudden "stop" at the end... like the lead wakes up from the fantasy - and then the presumed turn of the film is getting ready to begin.
Kudos to everybody involved with this film for doing whatever convincing had to be done (at the studio, with the producers, etc.) to give it such an outstandingly big and lush score.
Saw this a couple of days ago - it's only opened in the UK this week.
Pretty good film: wildly different from X. And the music...a full-on Golden Age score, with overtones of Herrmann at his ripest and shades of Howard Shore in Silence Of The Lambs mode later on. I'm now replaying it on YT and thoroughly enjoying it. "Dancing With Scarecrows": I can almost hear Jerry Goldsmith there. And what a treat to be able to actually hear the woodwinds!
I love it when a score surprises me. This is great.
Great score. Great little demented film. I'm hearing rumors that Bates returns to this huge orchestral well for the new John Wick film's score. We are seeing the movie tonite so I will report back what I hear!
Mia Goth is marvellous, of course, the film, however, less so. My nagging thought throughout was: what would John Waters do? As for the score, its broad, retro strokes certainly have initial appeal, yet as the movie progressed I all too often found it dramatically tone deaf.
Soundtrack makes for a perfectly fine stand-alone listen, though.
Great score. Great little demented film. I'm hearing rumors that Bates returns to this huge orchestral well for the new John Wick film's score. We are seeing the movie tonite so I will report back what I hear!
As someone who saw the film I can tell you that's most definitely not the case
As someone who saw the film I can tell you that's most definitely not the case
Indeed. The misses and I saw it last nite and it was more of the same from Bates and Richard. I like elements of their music in these but I still think the series is a hair away from greatness by having some great music underscore it. There is a splendid moment in number 4 set to some classic French electronica and I think that was the musical "high" maybe for the whole series.
