The score of a film is just as important as the screenplay or the cinematography. It brings forth emotion or can completely change a film’s essence. Score: A Film Music Documentary deals with the beauty of film scores and studies some of the greatest composers and their greatest compositions. Unsurprisingly it does an amazing job.
While interviews comprise a lot of the film, the directors of the film let the music do the talking a lot of the time and thank goodness for that. With some of the most iconic themes in cinematic history it’ll be impossible to not hum along. Director Matt Schrader knows his audience and perfectly blends the interviews with the famous tracks and it’s awesome seeing the likes of Quincy Jones and Danny Elfman talking while their scores play in the background.
What’s most intriguing about this documentary is that it really showcases the passing of the torch between old and new composers. The likes of John Williams and Quincy Jones really changed the whole landscape of composing but now the likes of Hans Zimmer and Marco Beltrami are reinventing what it means to be a composer thanks to new technology and revolutionary ideas.
The documentary also takes a look at the history of composers and their roles in film. Interestingly enough film scores have been around since films started getting made. “Silent” films were never really silent because a lot of the time they actually featured organists or as time progressed, proper scores with orchestras. Score: A Film Music Documentary certainly doesn’t change the documentary game. But for people who don’t often give much thought to the score or the composer, they will come out of this documentary completely changed. It might even be believable to state that the score is the most important part of a movie.
Rating: 8/10
Check out the film’s website here. Or pre-order it on iTunes here.
Score: A Film Music Documentary is playing in limited theaters now.