1. There's minimal score in the film. A few scenes have subtle, sparse, slow guitar music which helps the mood but which doesn't go anywhere and which could be cut and paste into a hundred similar scenes. Sort of like Brokeback but less thematic and less melodic.

2. A lot of key scenes are livened up with songs, none of which are orignal to the best of my knowledge.

3. The finale of the film is scored with a nice string and piano pice composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jaques Morelenbaum & Yuichiro Gotoh.

4. Ironically, the scene in which the score fits best with the scenes on screen, is the airlift scene, which is a perfect match for the piece 'Iguazu', which Santaolalla had composed and which was first heard onscreen in The Insider. The music fits possibly even better than it did in Insider, and lifts the scene considerably (pun intended ). However, this is obviously not orignal music, having been in my CD collection for over 6 years.

I'm quite sure that somewhere, someone has made a mistake. They either were impressed by Igauzu, or else by the ending, or else the whole world has indeed gone crazy and they think a few guitar plucks are more worthy than a score like ______(insert any of the 10-20 great scores released last year).

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Originally posted by Camillu:
4. Ironically, the scene in which the score fits best with the scenes on screen, is the airlift scene, which is a perfect match for the piece 'Iguazu', which Santaolalla had composed and which was first heard onscreen in The Insider. The music fits possibly even better than it did in Insider, and lifts the scene considerably (pun intended ). However, this is obviously not orignal music, having been in my CD collection for over 6 years.

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I prefer his score for this film to the BROKEBACK score actually. This at least feels pretty audacious at times (perhaps for the wrong reasons). BROKEBACK felt more lazy to me.

That said I agree with all your points - it seems unlikely that the people who nominated this score did so knowing exactly what was written for it. (For example - does anyone know if the Oscar promo for BABEL included 'Iguazu' ?')

I have a theory about the helicopter scene. I think the piece that appears over the end credits, which is called 'Endless Flight' on the CD, was actually written for this scene as an alternate, and found to be a little too jubilant.

Though it's a bit directorly in its pretension, you might find Innaritu's remarks in the liner notes interesting:

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The Chavela Vargas song 'Tu me Acostumbraste' , was something that I listened to over and over again during the scout and that triggered within me the idea to improvise a surreal bubble in Amelia's wedding in order to construct a space where the hyper-realism and the imaginary world could cohabitate. I tried to do the same with Gustavo's masterpiece, 'Iguazu' , during the helicopter scene, which I always envisioned as a whale landing in the desert symbolising a clash of cultures and where images, sound and music, as in silent films, without the tyranny of words, can speak by themselves.

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My own theory about the score and why it's being awarded so regularly is here:
http://mmuk64.proboards42.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1168611475

The one piece that I did like in BABEL was the Sakamoto piano piece at the end. Was this written for BABEL also or just added?

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Originally posted by joan hue:
The one piece that I did like in BABEL was the Sakamoto piano piece at the end. Was this written for BABEL also or just added?

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Innaritu says of this track ('bibo no Aozora'):

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On the other hand, Ryuichi Sakamoto, whom I have listened to and admired since my adolescence, never ceased to accompany me through his album, CHASM, which I listened to everyday from my house to the set, during the visual and conceptual development of BABEL, and during the shooting itself. 'only love can conquer hate' and 'bibo no Aozora' (a pure poetic and cinematic piece which I have been listening for the last 10 years) ended up in the film...

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This supposedly great quality of Gustavo Santaolalla's scores, that they "define moments", is a quality every score has (more or less), or at least should have.
And I don't think a composer should be awarded with such high honours, just because he got the basic rule of film scoring, which is capturing the scenes he was told to write music for.

Little Miss Sunshine, for BEST PICTURE? Give me a break. Give me a break! Break me off a piece of that.... It's a funny story with some funny acting, but it's a sloppy film. Give it nominations for its exeptional qualities (if there are any), not for overall best picture.

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Originally posted by PeterK:

Little Miss Sunshine, for BEST PICTURE? Give me a break. Give me a break! Break me off a piece of that.... It's a funny story with some funny acting, but it's a sloppy film. Give it nominations for its exeptional qualities (if there are any), not for overall best picture.

These days, it seems Best Pictures are those that have a beginning, a climax, and an end. Wooooo. What happened to exceptional films? Some would say they've disappeared and I'd say maybe, but there are plenty better overall films than Little Miss Sunshine.

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I find it very odd that Little Miss Sunshine was nominated. My favorite part about the movie was the score, but as a film I don't really think it's oscar material. Then again if scores like Babel and Brokeback Mountain are being considered, I wouldn't be surprised if movies like Saw 5 or Crank win best picture someday.

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Originally posted by PeterK:
gkg, I agree, especially with the movie music category and [b]BEST PICTURE category. Man, compare the best pictures of long ago with the best pictures of today.

Little Miss Sunshine, for BEST PICTURE? Give me a break. Give me a break! Break me off a piece of that.... It's a funny story with some funny acting, but it's a sloppy film. Give it nominations for its exeptional qualities (if there are any), not for overall best picture.

These days, it seems Best Pictures are those that have a beginning, a climax, and an end. Wooooo. What happened to exceptional films? Some would say they've disappeared and I'd say maybe, but there are plenty better overall films than Little Miss Sunshine.[/B]

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I'm extremely disappointed Clint Mansell wasn't nominated for "The Fountain," as are many others. I'd heard it a couple of times but finally got the CD about a week ago and have been listening to it almost non-stop. It's hauntingly beautiful. I haven't seen the movie but if the music works this well on CD without visual I can't imagine it not working in the film.

I'm also extremely disappointed in the nomination for Best Director. I wasn't expecting "Children of Men," to get a nod for Best Picture (although I think it deserves it 100%,) but I was hoping/half expecting Alfonso Cuaron to get a nomination for direction and find it completely ridiculous he didn't even get that. Plus you got "Little Miss Sunshine," in the nominations for best picture when I can name at least 2 other flicks,"United 93," "Children of Men," that actually deserve to get the nomination. Ugh..so frustrating. I was really hoping they would fix all the anger that I had last year from "Crash," winning but alas they have failed.

THE ANTHONY ASQUITH AWARD for Achievement in Film Music
BABEL - Gustavo Santaolalla - Winner
CASINO ROYALE - David Arnold
DREAMGIRLS - Henry Krieger
HAPPY FEET - John Powell
THE QUEEN - Alexandre Desplat

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Originally posted by Dylan:
I doubt anybody does. How on Earth did he get enough votes to win?

[Message edited by Dylan on 02-25-2007]

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100 people vote for Deplat.

100 people vote for Newman.

100 people vote for Navarrete.

98 people vote for Glass.

102 people vote for Gustl.

Boom...a second Oscar.

Myself, I'll be taking guitar lessons, starting tomorrow. I have my acceptance speech ready.

But seriously...damn.

CK

On a positive note, how was the Morricone segment?

It was also very amusing to notice that when the nominees for the Score category were announced, the short clip of Santaolalla featured him playing 'Iguazu'. Enough said.