Garden of Words x Little Sister's Elder Sister (manga one shot)
The movie’s focus on childhood friendship made it very innocent compared with the rest of Fujimoto’s unhinged work and the fantastical elements and the presentation of children’s imaginations were animated superbly well, with the overlying sentiment that it is admirable to pursue art.
Kimi no Iro (2024)
Carole and Tuesday x Liz and the Blue Bird
When the main character Totsuko becomes obsessed with the colour of her schoolmate, she ends up starting a band with her and another student, using music as an outlet to break away from the stress of personal failures, career pressure, school stress, and strict conventions of school. For a movie about synesthesia and a musical band, the movie was rather tame and rarely strays into any dark topics or themes, especially when compared with the director’s other work on Silent Voice.
The Last Dance (2024)
Departures (2008) but it's in Hong Kong
A charismatic wedding planner takes over a funeral business and needs to contend with the Taoist priest who performs the ritual aspects of each service but ends up learning a lot in the process when interacting with him and his family. The movie seamlessly weaves together various stories and highlights many themes of family dynamics and traditional customs, as well as the emotional journey following the death of a loved one.
A Complete Unknown (2024)
I Walk the Line but it's Bob Dylan
The movie does seem to skip over many aspects of Bob Dylan’s life, such as no mention of his ex-wife Sara Dylan, who he was involved with during his Electric tour, but there’s no doubt a movie should be made about the emotional rollercoaster of his life during 1963-1965 where he released the most important albums of his career and had the most important relationships that influenced his music. Whether it's realistic that the Newport festival in 1965 should serve as the climax of the movie and act as the turning point of his career when compared with the rest of his legacy, the film still showcases a lot of great singing and some interesting scenes relating to the music scene, even as the enigmatic nature of Bob Dylan’s life makes it difficult to conclude what his motivations and philosophies were during this time.
I think movie soundtracks can be a greatly overlooked genre of music because it takes an immense amount of creativity and effort to compose the right melody to complement an emotional scene and even elevate the moment for the audience without the aid of any superfluous electronic synthesisers or even the need for lyrics but focusing solely on the purity of orchestral music. It is worth taking the time to watch a movie and listen to the score, and realizing how these tracks work within the context of the movie to create a more heightened cinematic experience, or even romanticize it further and imagine how it can be played out in sync with your own life.
Boy and the Heron (Joe Hisaishi) - If you like Ghibli movies, Hisaishi's scores never disappoint, but I’m going to look past the obvious choice of Spirited Away, to focus on The Boy and the Heron score, which really delivers many powerful notes that resonated with me when I was listening to the soundtrack by itself, conjuring a nostalgic and fantastical feeling of a boy about to mature and take action on his decisions, as well as bringing in elements of loss, courage, and finality. Check out these tracks: Ask me why (Mahito’s Commitment); The Great Collapse; The Last Smile; Feather Fletching; Farewell
Drive my car (Eiko Ishibashi) - The piano songs complement the road trip aspect of the movie, as we take a journey across the lives of a theatre director and his driver, as they ponder their experiences with grief and guilt. This brooding and serene collection of songs transports you through the artistry and philosophy behind the story, which makes this an extremely well-crafted and powerful album that meditates on the theme of finding purpose and consolation. Check out these tracks: Drive my car (Kafuku); Drive my car; Drive my car (Misaki); Drive my car (The most important thing is to work); We'll live through the long, long days, and through the long nights (SAAB 900)
The Brutalist (Daniel Blumberg) – I was quite impressed with the soundtrack just based on watching the trailer. The first track is an immersive opening into the world of Laszlo following his immigrant journey through the emerging metropolis in America. Check out these tracks: Overture (Ship); Overture (Laszlo); Monologue; Bath; Stairs
Taxi driver (Bernard Herrmann) – Somehow jazz music works well with a story about a misanthropic man’s downward spiral through depravity and loneliness. Although many of these tracks follow the same tune, the sinister and chaotic nature of Travis's mind complements the soulful and harmonic saxophone sections. Check out these tracks: Main Title (From “Taxi driver”); Diary of a Taxi Driver; Sport and Iris; Betsy In a White Dress
Finding Nemo (Thomas Newman) – Newman is no doubt eternally famous for American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Shawshank Redemption, but it's his work on the Pixar classic that brings back so many sentimental childhood memories. Unfortunately, many of these tracks are only a minute long but they still carry immense depth and emotion. Check out these tracks: Nemo Egg (Main Title); Wow; First Day; Field Trip
Other great tracks
The Name of Life from Spirited Away (Joe Hisaishi) – one of Hisaishi’s masterpieces
The Winner Is from Little Miss Sunshine (DeVotchka, Mychael Danna) - bittersweet
In Motion from The Social Network (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) – a great track for entrepreneurs
Song on the Beach from Her (Arcade Fire with Owen Pallett) – peaceful and meditative. Also check out Dimensions from the same soundtrack.
Jacob and the Stone from Minari (Emile Mosseri) – became quite a meme on the internet
F# Noodles from The Andy Warhol Diaries (Brad Oberhofer) - beautiful piano song
Walkaway from Meet Joe Black (Thomas Newman) - great love song on missed chances and roads not taken
Ice Dance from Edward Scissorhands (Danny Elfman) - Magically innocent song
Yumeji's Theme from Yumeji (Shigeru Umebayashi) - great violin track
Overture from Hero (Tan Dun) – along with Tan Dun’s work on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this is an exceptional piece of art
One Summer Day from Spirited Away (Joe Hisaishi) – very Ghibli
Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor) from Sunshine (John Murphy) – filled with adrenaline and suspense
Epiphany from Soul (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) – quite a sad piece but still another great addition in the great body of Pixar music that has come out recently
Misato from Neon Genesis Evangelion (Shiro Sagisu) – rather famous anime song that has been used in other media
There are many other great scores (sorry to any Willams [Jaws, Schindler's List] or Zimmer [Inception, The Thin Red Line] fans) but for the sake of brevity these won't be mentioned as it is better to focus on some scores that might not have gotten as many listens.
I definitely think the character could have been a bit more developed and nuanced rather than a boring stone-cold killer out for vengeance but the philosophical narration does make an interesting character study on a calculating perfectionist with no empathy.
The Holdovers (2023)
Dead Poets Society x As Good as It Gets
Quite a sentimental Christmas movie that wasn't corny. I guess the comedy comes from how the teacher is disliked intensely by everyone but I was rather sympathetic to the teacher especially as the movie progressed and he helps a troubled student and shares his life experiences ("I got kicked out of Harvard for hitting him." "You hit him? What, like punched him out?" "No, I hit him with a car.").
The Boy and the Heron (2023)
Spirited Away but with Haku as the main character rather than Chihiro
The film deals with a sense of finality as Hayao Miyazaki takes a look through all aspects of his work and potentially links them with his childhood and how they influenced him, which is why this film evokes so much nostalgia for me (the boy meeting the wizard for the final time is like old Miyazaki talking to his younger self). The movie also has an amazing score by Joe Hisaishi ("Ask me why”).
Eternals (2021)
Terence Mallick x Puella Magi Madoka Magica
The plot is different from the original Jack Kirby version as well as the Neil Gaiman adaptation, and it has a unique style but what is confusing is that it tries to add its own lore. For a standalone concept it works but I am not sure about it's idea of world-building or the likelihood of a future franchise.
The Menu (2022)
Ratatouille x the Manson family
The dishes were very symbolic and the "And then there were none" framework worked well as a narrative device to open up concepts on the hype of food art, celebrity, and fine dining but it remains rather unbelievable why there is a cult based around a disillusioned head chef and how his plan for the night actually plays out without his diners rebelling.
The Watched (2024)
Slender man x The Descent
The main takeaway from this movie was that it was directed by M Night Shyamalan’s daughter. The plot twist kind of worked.
Longlegs (2024)
Cure (1997) x Annabelle
The plot revolves around a detective investigating a string of murder-suicides that seem like it was perpetrated by someone in the background making normal families kill each other. This is very similar to the 1997 Japanese movie Cure, which is more philosophical and nuanced, as opposed to random scenes of a deranged satanist Nicolas Cage in Longlegs.
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
Mad Max: Fury Road x Midnight Run
I think the best part of this movie is Emma Corrin as the bad guy. Ryan Reynolds Deadpool has become so reliant on meta-comedy and random references that he verges on being obnoxious so it was nice to see some fresh plot and characters.
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