Tuesday, 3 November 2015
Film Music
The opening titles of Blade Runner - with music,
Count on David Lynch to use a classic like Bobby Vinton’s Blue Velvet in an amusingly ironic fashion, initially playing it over gorgeously-shot images of roses and fire engines in a quiet, suburban utopia, before we cut to Jeffrey Beaumont’s father, who suffers a stroke. The idyllic song continues to play its optimistic tune, creepily juxtaposed with this man writhing around on the floor in agony, which perfectly encapsulates the film’s central premise, of a dark underbelly resting beneath the squeaky-clean veneer of Lumberton.
Blue Velvet eventually fades out, and the more sinister score fades in, making it clear that something very unpleasant indeed is about to come to the forefront.
One of the most distinctive aspects of every Quentin Tarantino film is the soundtrack, and Pulp Fiction is certainly no exception. QT usually picks music from his own record collection, and reportedly first heard Urge Overkill’s cover of Neil Diamond’s Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon in a small record shop while visiting Amsterdam.
It’s just as well, then, because the result is one of the most iconic scenes in Tarantino’s entire filmography, in large part thanks to the tune, as Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) dances around to it while Vincent Vega (John Travolta) tries to talk himself into being well-behaved.
There’s a tremendous irony that the song, about a girl coming of age, is juxtaposed with Mia snorting some cocaine. The song fades out just as things take a turn for the worse and Mia begins to convulse, having accidentally overdosed, which is another classic moment all by itself
Stanley Kubrick used Strauss to convey the awe and wonder of this sci-fi opening......
then more classical and classically inspired music in his movie of Steven King's 'The Shining'.
Lastly, directed by Steven Spielberg, the iconic 'Jaws' theme by John Williams, say no more...
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