Categories One by One: Best Original Score

[Mister Tee]

I HAVE done the due diligence -- sat through all of Dial of Destiny, even ate the $5.99 cost (curse you, Netflix disc, for disappearing in my hour of need). And I can confirm your sonic-only impression: occasionally I'd find myself thinking, Oh: there's some new music...and then, a few minutes later, the familiar bom-da-dum-dum would show up, and I'd remember why I hated this nomination. Okri rightly notes that other composers have been declared ineligible for even a smidgen of borrowed melody, but Williams skates year after year. I honestly think this is a greater music branch scandal than anything connected to Diane Warren, and the only thing that looks likely to end it will be Williams going, as they say, to his eternal rest.

I have only a vague impression of American Fiction's score (I WASN'T alerted to it ahead of time). I'd happily accept a win, but can't make any argument for it.

It's probably not true, but my memory of the Poor Things score is of one approaching atonality. In a good way. But it seems a pretty unusual nominee, and, if getting past the composers' branch was a hurdle, sneaking it past the schmaltz-lovers in the overall membership seems mission: impossible.

I didn't so much note the Killers of the Flower Moon score while in the theatre, but I watched the movie again on Apple TV, and was struck by how much of it there was and how effectively rendered it was. It's not in the wheelhouse of scores I truly love (I'm not sure what the last such one was? -- Joker? Shape of Water maybe?). But I'd root for it as career tribute to Robertson, and as alternative to what's coming.

It's not so much I dislike the music in Oppenheimer -- I don't love it, but I don't actively rebel. I do, however, hate the way it's used in the film; throughout, it feels like it's pushing me to feel things beyond what the narrative can justify. Something apparently a lot of fans (and voters) are all for; the win seems pretty much a slam dunk. But it won't make me happy.

[Big Magilla]

I would expect this to be one of the ones Oppenheimer gets to add to its haul.

[Sabin]

Really glad you mention the score from A Thousand and One. It's fantastic. I think my choice would be Pemberton for Across the Spider-Verse. That thing works overtime, but unlike Oppenheimer it does so in a way that I found consistently inventive and enjoyable. I need to rewatch Oppenheimer but I recall being displeased with its score in real time. I'm trying to think of the last time one composer will have won Oscars for two scores I disliked. I don't think it's happened in my moviegoing life (starting in 1995).

Poor Things' discordant score is pretty key to its success, but I think my choice of the nominees would Robertson for how Scorsese keeps it going in the background at an even boil throughout.

[Okri]

The nominees

American Fiction, Laura Karpman
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, John Williams
Killers of the Flower Moon, Robbie Robertson
Oppenheimer, Ludwig Göransson
Poor Things, Jerskin Fendrix

I’m being slightly dishonest because I’m missing one of the films. But, honestly, I’m not even convinced that the composers watched Dial of Destiny before checking John Williams’ name off. Here’s the thing that’s uniquely infuriating, though. We’ve lived through an era where interesting scores got left off because they were co-composed (Ad Astra, The Dark Knight) or for use of pre-existing material (There Will Be Blood, Arrival, etc). The soundtrack to Dial of Destiny (which I have listened to) sounds like a generic action soundtrack except for the moments when it uses its iconic Indiana Jones themes. So, beyond the Williams name, a reason that contributed to its nomination is also the reason it should be disqualified. And yet Williams never seems be phased by that obstacle. A win would be shocking

And it’s not like there weren’t alternatives. You wanted a legend to honour with a career citation – Joe Hisaishi’s work for The Boy and the Heron is just majestic. You wanted to honour one of your favourites with another citation? Thomas Newman did remarkable work with Elemental. You want to recognize a great action score? Daniel Pemberton’s gloriously kinetic work for Spider-Verse would’ve been a perfect choice (probably my favourite music of the year, give or take A Thousand and One)

I saw American Fiction after I saw anonymous predicting it for best score so I made sure to pay specific attention to it and also streamed it afterwards. It’s a pleasant listen, no doubt, and used quite effectively. It would also be a surprising winner.

I’m trying to remember the last time a score as unusual as Poor Things won and am coming up blank. The Social Network is probably the furthest out of AMPAS’ comfort zone they’ve gone and this is definitely further than that. But it’s also foregrounded a fair bit throughout the film and so much of the film is about aesthetics. If Oppenheimer were a bit weaker a best picture candidate, this could’ve been a situation like Grand Budapest Hotel where we get a mini tech sweep as sometimes happens.

I didn’t remember the score from Killers of the Flower Moon so found it somewhat befuddling when it kept getting all those precursor mentions. I assumed it was general affection for Robbie Robertson. What surprised me, though, was just how much memory the score triggered in me when I listened to it. Scorsese underplays it throughout the film but it’s a surprisingly powerful composition. It’s not as bonkers a choice as Poor Things would be, so I’ll cite it as a stronger candidate

But they’re all up against a pretty titanic nominee in Oppenheimer. Now, we don’t get a lot of precursors here, but Goransson has done well enough – winning the TV trio. The last time someone won both BAFTA and the Golden Globe but lost the Oscar was 2005 – Memoirs of a Geisha/John Williams. The “score-as-sound-design” is squarely in AMPAS’ wheelhouse right now (All Quiet on the Western Front, Dune). It’s loud, propulsive (the Trinity sequence is very memorable) with a surprising amount of tonal range. I know it’s not a popular one on the board, but I don’t see how it loses.