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This is a comments thread about Blog Post: Film Score Friday 6/7/24 by Scott Bettencourt
 
 Posted:   Jun 7, 2024 - 8:02 AM   
 By:   Yavar Moradi   (Member)

EZRA - Nick Urata

"The supposed transformation of the characters is also extraordinarily pat and by the numbers. Several of Ezra’s concerns, like not wanting to eat with a metal spoon or not wanting to be hugged, are overcome instantaneously in an encounter with a young girl who is the daughter of Vera Farmiga’s character, Max’s old flame, whom they meet on the road. Such tropes perhaps have a place in movies wanting to be crowd-pleasers, but the execution here doesn’t do it any favors. They seem cynically applied to illicit aww reactions and tears from the crowd -- another instance of the film’s overreliance on narrative shorthands and templatized storytelling. The modest production is directed by Goldwyn in a strictly pedestrian point-and-shoot manner, rendering it anonymous and undistinguished. Overusing the score to generate emotion contributes to the overall feeling of manipulation."

Ankit Jhunjhunwala, The Playlist


I haven't seen this film, but I have interviewed the composer of it... and it's not Nick Urata, but Carlos Rafael Rivera of The Queen's Gambit fame... he speaks a bit about this project in the last hour of our mammoth conversation with him about Goldsmith's early guitar scores:
https://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/159614/13437113-episode-42-the-early-guitar-scores-1954-1958-with-carlos-rafael-rivera

The score album was released on streaming services at the end of May along with the film's wide release. It's a super short album with only about 20 minutes of score, but a very pleasant listen. It generally comes across as pretty restrained and intimate, and combined with being sparsely spotted I'm going to venture a guess that this is just another film critic who's allergic to any sort of noticeable melody in film music.

Yavar

 
 Posted:   Jun 7, 2024 - 8:18 AM   
 By:   Scott Bettencourt   (Member)

EZRA - Nick Urata

"The supposed transformation of the characters is also extraordinarily pat and by the numbers. Several of Ezra’s concerns, like not wanting to eat with a metal spoon or not wanting to be hugged, are overcome instantaneously in an encounter with a young girl who is the daughter of Vera Farmiga’s character, Max’s old flame, whom they meet on the road. Such tropes perhaps have a place in movies wanting to be crowd-pleasers, but the execution here doesn’t do it any favors. They seem cynically applied to illicit aww reactions and tears from the crowd -- another instance of the film’s overreliance on narrative shorthands and templatized storytelling. The modest production is directed by Goldwyn in a strictly pedestrian point-and-shoot manner, rendering it anonymous and undistinguished. Overusing the score to generate emotion contributes to the overall feeling of manipulation."

Ankit Jhunjhunwala, The Playlist


I haven't seen this film, but I have interviewed the composer of it... and it's not Nick Urata, but Carlos Rafael Rivera of The Queen's Gambit fame... he speaks a bit about this project in the last hour of our mammoth conversation with him about Goldsmith's early guitar scores:
https://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/159614/13437113-episode-42-the-early-guitar-scores-1954-1958-with-carlos-rafael-rivera

The score album was released on streaming services at the end of May along with the film's wide release. It's a super short album with only about 20 minutes of score, but a very pleasant listen. It generally comes across as pretty restrained and intimate, and combined with being sparsely spotted I'm going to venture a guess that this is just another film critic who's allergic to any sort of noticeable melody in film music.

Yavar


Thank you for catching that. Will fix.

 
 Posted:   Jun 7, 2024 - 8:26 AM   
 By:   Yavar Moradi   (Member)

No problem; thanks for correcting. Here's the end credits cue which is probably the most strident of the score:


Yavar

 
 Posted:   Jun 7, 2024 - 10:38 AM   
 By:   Scott Bettencourt   (Member)

I can only assume I had a brain-freeze where I conflated it with two upcoming films, Thelma (scored by Nick Chuba) and National Anthem (scored by Nick Urata).

Now I'm imagining a combined film where a scammed elderly woman goes on the road with her neurodivergent grandson and joins a gay rodeo. Definitely a Sundance winner and probably a "Black List" script as well.

 
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