Wednesday 20 January 2016

MUSIC SCORES AND THE OSCARS

If you know me you will know I love and adore music, opera and film music scores. The problem with scores is that there could be more opportunity given to women and other cultures. Therefore the music is basically brilliant but similar.  More variety is needed. Variety occurs when you mix cultures up. The film world is not mixed up. At smaller Festivals films are shown that should be seen and hardly aired, let alone recognised. Too much snobbery over names, which makes film making so uninteresting.
Nainita Desai


There is a composer in England called Nainita Desai, and hopefully she can enter the world of Hollywood and win an Oscar one day, last year she wrote a wonderful BBC documentary musical called Mumbai High set and filmed in a school in India with children who had no prior knowledge of performing and music. It was incredibly moving, although up for a BAFTA, Hollywood does not know anything about it. This is the diversity I am talking about. Where are the  black composers?  Since Cry Freedom, no black composer has been given the opportunity to compose for a likely award winner.  Here is the list, it is shocking. Of course many black performers have won in the song department.  Can't the agents be a bit more imaginative and take on minorities and promote them? People are complaining there is not enough diversity in the Film World generally. Women achieved considerable success this year with so many brilliant scripts for them. Carol, The Danish Girl had brilliant parts. Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander surely shine, yet behind the scenes, the statistics are shabby and complaining. Another thing is that the composers chosen this year are represented by mostly the same agent, which seems a bit dodgy too.

This year I am delighted that at last Ennio Morricone is hopefully going to get the adoration he should have had twenty odd years ago for The Mission. Of course he has won so many awards but the Oscar is something special and any composer who spends his life in film will tell you that. It is not their raison d'être, rather the cherry on the cake So far he has only won it for "Life Achievement" not for any particular score. The Hateful8 a Tarrentino movie should get him this accolade as he has won everything else. One thing we should remember is the music was already written for another film, it was written for a horror film called The Thing. Does that actually meet the requirements?.

ENNIO MORRICONE

Should John Williams again win for a score of Star Wars that he has already won the first time round in 1978? That seems a little dull too.

I am saddened that last year's Oscar winner,  Alexandre Desplat did not get any real recognition for his score for The Danish Girl, a film which left me speechless for three weeks when I saw it at The Venice Film Festival. If you watch the film properly and I mean properly it cannot fail to move you. Desplat got nominated in the Globes and it was won by Morricone for his score of the Hateful8.

Last year  I appreciated Johan Johansson's ability but he copied Desplat for his score of The Imitation Game using Kings Speech and Extremely loud and incredibly close.  Rumours abound in Hollywood. I mentioned it my blog last year. As for Sicario? What can I say, why not have the real thing and and this time Black Sabbath, Iron Man? Clearly people have little musical ability who vote, otherwise they could hear the
problems easily.

I am really happy to see Carter Burwell nominated for his score of Carol, I totally loved it and it is unfortunate that he is nominated against John Williams, Thomas Newman and Ennio Morricone, as his score was so strong.
Thomas Newman's score is not his best but its very good for Bridge of Spies, but not award worthy.
The Revenant has one of the worst scores ever by three composers just did not work, composed by Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bryce Dessner and Alva Noto. It is too jumbled up, by talented musicians individually but this does not really work.

A few years we complained about women not having enough equality in show business generally, let along racial diversity. The problem is that everything that is award winning is usual given a chance when a person is well known, and a friend of a friend. This seems intelligent too much money is at stake, but the other side is that it makes for ultimately boring perfection. In the Lebanese culture, perfection is not attractive, story telling is the most interesting thing. People respond to emotions not anything perfect, pure and clean.  The other problem is that the voters for the Academy are basically over 60 and male, giving opportunity to their friends, 94 percent are white, 76 percent men and an average of 63 years old, there will be bias.

Black people should equally be responsible for representing their culture by writing scripts and making it happen. There is the iPhone and you make a film and when finished send it to The New Film Festival which specialises in giving opportunity to people who have talent, but really its not about talent its about hard work, and never giving up.

  So come on Agents, Writers, Producers, Casting Directors, have a little more imagination, be daring and the world is full of magic.