Reel and Roll Awards: Film Music 2019

Music in film this year was of quite the variety in terms of cream of the crop. Let's take a look at the Reel and Roll choices for the best in film scores, songs and soundtracks of the year.

For slow, easy, jazzy pieces you have the work of Daniel Pemberton in Motherless Brooklyn and Robbie Robertson for The Irishman; nuanced pieces that fit the slow tempo and leisurely pace of their respective films incredibly well.

If you'd rather be kept on your toes, give the pulse-pounding efforts of Oneohtrix Point Never for Uncut Gems and the inimitable Mica Levi for Monos a go. The former is the most tense and anxiety-inducing soundtrack of the year and performs its tricky balancing act of being both stressful and compelling to listen to. Likewise, the sparingly used score of Monos helps create the eerie otherworldly atmosphere of the film that sneaks upon you. 

Want something a bit more epic? With the revving of engines amplified by the atmospheric score in Ford v Ferrari, Alan Silvestri delivering a rousing finale to Avengers: Endgame by making use of what had been previously established and bringing it to greater heights, and the sense of wonder and discovery accompanying Apollo 11 are all brought to greater, grander heights through the music. Above all though, it is the amazing Thomas Newman score to 1917 which is the king of the year in this regard, helping to build with grand rousing themes like 'Sixteen Hundred Men',  slow-building beautifully atmospheric tunes like 'The Night Window' and the quieter interludes, which help make the film as terrific a cinematic experience as it is. 

Both Marriage Story and Parasite concern themselves with family dynamics and are what I consider to be the crux of their respective scores, as each piece within both of them are constructed to facilitate and emphasise these shifting dynamics throughout. I will say that Parasite takes this concept to great heights, where in particular the montages beautifully use the amazing score so well, whereas with Marriage Story the use of score is occasionally a bit forced, yet where it does work it does work beautifully. 

When it comes to horror, the likes of Us and The Lighthouse certainly delivered in this regard. Us making the inspired choice to use 'I Got 5 On It' as the basis for 'Pas De Deux' which is just a remarkable choice in every regard, and really the whole score is rather terrific and is one area I do think the film was an upgrade over Get Out. The Lighthouse has a score which is decidedly unpleasant and rather uncomfortable to listen to in some ways, but it is amazing in its own way in helping to amplify the claustrophobic atmosphere of being confined to a lighthouse, with the use of horns in particular helping to generate this effect oh so well.

Last but not least, scores that are just plain beautiful, in that regard few can top James Newton Howard's work on A Hidden Life which is just sumptuous, and convey the central romance so well in its combination of piano, strings, and is truly magical and I hate that it has to compete with 1917 in my personal awards. Little Women and Jojo Rabbit too are wonderful little pieces of work that create their own little worlds of carefree innocence clashing with harsher realities, so well, and I have particular affection for how Little Women's back and forth structure makes use of the score to help emphasise the contrasts. Each piece is just lovely to listen to but when the films get to their more serious intentions work equally well in making the emotional beats hit all the harder, especially 'Rosie's Nocturne' in Jojo Rabbit.

Best Score

1. 1917
2. A Hidden Life
3. Parasite 
4. Avengers: Endgame 
5. Little Women 
6. Us
7. Uncut Gems 
8. Jojo Rabbit 
9. The Lighthouse 
10. Ford v Ferrari 

Best Original Song

1. ‘Stand Up’, Harriet

2. 'Glasgow (No Place Like Home)', Wild Rose 

3. '(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again', Rocketman 

4. 'Speechless', Aladdin

5. 'Beautiful Ghosts', Cats 

Not been the strongest year for film songs, though I will say the top 3 are great pieces on their own, but I wouldn't say there was any particular 'original song' this year that truly stood out to me. I'm very glad that Erivo and Elton John/Bernie Taupin are in contention for their respective songs though, as they are both wonderfully composed, sung and knockout tunes, only wish Mary Steenburgen's 'Glasgow' made the Academy cut.