Musical Space

A lot of movies use music as sonic wallpaper - just background sound to fill silence and fit the genre - but bold, memorable films tend to have equally strong and unforgettable music at the forefront. Great filmmakers have a way of merging images and narrative with the visceral power of sound. It happens a lot in art-house films, like those you can watch on the new Criterion Channel. I’ve been perusing their catalog lately, and lots of titles have come to mind. Music can tie a film to a time and place: Punk Rock is what sets Repo Man in 1980’s L.A.; Black Orpheus uses Bossa Nova to put us in Brazil in 1959. Music: Luiz Bonfa ” Samba de Orfeu” From Black Orpheus (1959) (A studio version by the composer. This movie (and song) started the whole bossa nova craze) But more than just establishing setting, film music can be like a color scheme, putting everything into harmony. Wes Anderson’s choice of music is as painstaking and obsessive as his set design. It must have cost a fortune to use