I just saw Ryan Gosling's directorial debut a couple of days ago, and was totally blown away by how brilliant it was.
The film is an absolutely drop-dead gorgeous journey into a world that seems defined only by itself. Lush neon lights and colours (which we've come to associate with Gosling's films as actor) -- what a debut it is! It went straight into my third spot of the year (so far) after EX MACHINA and IT FOLLOWS.
The music is equally fantastic -- loads of ethereal electronic textures, sometimes a John Carpenter-like beat (which is so popular these days) and some wild dissonant experimentation all wrapped into one! This is unquestionably one of my favourite scores of the year -- very much up my alley. I was not previously familiar with Johnny Jewel, but apparently he's been a name in the US indie scene for years.
If you are -- at all -- into electronic music and scores, this is one of the year's highlights. It certainly is for me. Highly, highly recommended!
The film looks really interesting to me, though your description of the score not so much - Though I was HARDLY expecting a great score from this kind of film, in this kind of Western musical climate (it just doesn't happen anymore) that favors ambience over thematics.
The film looks really interesting to me, though your description of the score not so much - Though I was HARDLY expecting a great score from this kind of film, in this kind of Western musical climate (it just doesn't happen anymore) that favors ambience over thematics.
I'll still be sure to check out the movie.
Score is very cool in its Twin Peaks-ish way. Definitely made me want to watch the movie. just hope it's better than the execrable Only God Forgives
The film looks really interesting to me, though your description of the score not so much - Though I was HARDLY expecting a great score from this kind of film, in this kind of Western musical climate (it just doesn't happen anymore) that favors ambience over thematics.
I'll still be sure to check out the movie.
Please do so! It will probably not appeal to those that ONLY favour traditional orchestral music, but if you're open to different styles, and at the very least if you have a heart for electronic music -- it's a must-see (and hear).
The film looks really interesting to me, though your description of the score not so much - Though I was HARDLY expecting a great score from this kind of film, in this kind of Western musical climate (it just doesn't happen anymore) that favors ambience over thematics.
I'll still be sure to check out the movie.
Please do so! It will probably not appeal to those that ONLY favour traditional orchestral music, but if you're open to different styles, and at the very least if you have a heart for electronic music -- it's a must-see (and hear).
I do like a handful of synth scores and pieces (Chris Young's HAUNTED SUMMER, Mark Isham's end title from THE HITCHER) so I'll try and listen with an open mind.
The film looks really interesting to me, though your description of the score not so much - Though I was HARDLY expecting a great score from this kind of film, in this kind of Western musical climate (it just doesn't happen anymore) that favors ambience over thematics.
I'm the same though I've always kept an open mind to all forms of music, I like ambient music too but it tends to be albums unrelated to film music, not always but mostly.
The film didn't connect with me. The "neo 80s synth score" is a real trend now after "Drive" and "House of the Devil," and the best of these was fairly recently too ("It Follows") and last year had several others ("Starry Eyes," "The Sacrament," etc.) but while I can appreciate this approach (I am actually VERY pro "80s synth" if it's good) I really can't recall a note from "Lost River" to be honest. I do remember the use of old recordings of "Deep Purple," a great tune that I guess was used here to make the proceedings "Lynchian."
Fair enough. If it didn't connect with you, that's fine.
I understand what you mean with the Lynch influence (which to my mind was done absolutely wonderfully), but I'm afraid I can't see any Malick here.
The whole artistic project of this film just connected to me on a very personal level. Gosling is clearly influenced by the look of some of the films he's starred in, but added his own unique touches and "tone".
For all the 'neo-80s' synth scores that have been composed in recent years, this ranks among the very best of them, IMO.
I have the physical release of this on pre-order so will wait until it gets released here in the UK on 1 June to hear it proper. Looking forward to hearing anything this guy does, though no real plan to catch the film itself.
Thor, since you enjoyed this, have you checked out his work as Symmetry on "Themes For An Imaginary Film", aka the 'rejected' score for DRIVE?
I have the physical release of this on pre-order so will wait until it gets released here in the UK on 1 June to hear it proper. Looking forward to hearing anything this guy does, though no real plan to catch the film itself.
Thor, since you enjoyed this, have you checked out his work as Symmetry on "Themes For An Imaginary Film", aka the 'rejected' score for DRIVE?
I have not. In fact, I wasn't even aware of a rejected score before it was mentioned in relation to this score. I will check it out. Hopefully, it's on Spotify.
