Score: A Film Music Documentary
Matt Schrader, USA, 2016o
Music is an integral part of most films, adding emotion and nuance while often remaining invisible to audiences. Matt Schrader shines a spotlight on the overlooked craft of film composing, gathering many of the art form’s most influential practitioners, from Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman to Quincy Jones and Randy Newman, to uncover their creative process. Tracing key developments in the evolution of music in film, and exploring some of cinema’s most iconic soundtracks.
Agreed with the objections raised by colleagues from züritipp and the Süddeutsche Zeitung in the short reviews below: Score is a short-winded, rather unstructured, uninhibitedly one-sided film in which primarily American composers and filmmakers explain the art and history of music in predominantly American films. But what a wealth of insights, what a wealth of stunning musical ideas and concepts this clip marathon has to offer! We realize what Max Steiner did for King Kong, Bernard Herrmann for Hitchcock and John Barry for 007. Absolutely captivating are the scenes in which we watch contemporary Hollywood composers in their constant search for melodies and sounds. Score makes us acutely aware of how massively music shapes our perception of films - and how little we are aware of this miraculous control of our feelings when films like this do not help us to understand what touches us.
Andreas Furler
Schrader schneidet hektisch zwischen all den Talking Heads hin und her. Das verwirrt. Zudem gibt es für ihn offenbar keine Studiofilme und keine europäischen Filme ausser Italowestern. Doch davon abgesehen bietet «Score» eine solche Fülle von Informationen, dass man ihn sich am besten mehrmals anschaut.
Thomas Bodmer
Matt Schrader untersucht in seiner Doku Wirkung und Entstehung der Filmmusik. Er fokussiert dabei zu sehr auf klassische Orchestrierung, Pop und Synthesizer kommen zu kurz. Aber wenn Größen des Handwerks - unter anderem Quincy Jones, Hans Zimmer und James Cameron - aus dem Nähkästchen plaudern, ist das trotzdem interessant.
Jan KedvesGalleryo
