Although the French composer is credited as the main songwriter on the official soundtrack for Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life (2011), Alexandre Desplat’s music only accounts for a fraction of the total number of tracks which actually made it into the final edit of the film. The majestic score also includes more than 35 classical, […]
cinema
Yann Tiersen: Summer 78
Directed by German film-maker Wolfgang Becker and starring Daniel Brühl (Alex) and Katrin Saß (Christiane), Goodbye Lenin! (2003) chronicles of the life of a Berlin family during the pivotal years of the German reunification in 1989-90 with a great mixture of tragedy, humour and satire. Alex’s mother Christiane accidentally falls into a coma in October […]
The Great Beauty
The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza – 2013) is a visually dazzling film by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino boasting a brilliant and eclectic soundtrack ranging from electro-pop to classical choral music. The film won the 2014 Golden Globe [update: and Oscar] in the “best foreign film” category. An unexpected event forces aging journalist and disenchanted socialite […]
Le Rêve du Diable: Crac!
Crac! is an enchanting 15mn animated short by Frédéric Back originally released in 1981 and featuring a great collection of songs and tunes from the traditional French Canadian repertoire performed by folk group Le Rêve du Diable. Borrowing its name from a traditional reel of English/Irish origin (the devil’s dream), the band was formed in […]
The Swell Season
In a scene towards the end of the musical film Once, after the recording studio session, the two fictional characters “falling slowly” in love with each other and aspiring to work together have this conversation: Guy: Come on away to London with me! We’ll write loads of songs and live in a nice flat […] […]
Abel Korzeniowski: Stillness of the mind
Fashion designer-turned-director Tom Ford’s first film A Single Man (2009) chronicles a tragic day in the life of gay British literature professor George Falconer (Colin Firth). Based on the Christopher Isherwood novel by the same name, A Single Man is a story of love, grief and depression. It is also an aesthetic tour de force […]
