Choke (release date: Sept 26 2008) This soundtrack has quite the indie rock pedigree what with Death
Cab for Cutie, My Morning Jacket and the like on it, but we'll see whether or not director Clark Gregg can pull off any genuinely memorable film music moments in this highly anticipated film written by Fight Club screenwriter Chuck Palahniuk. Gregg has, of course, turned out consistently great stuff like The Usual Suspects and Iron Man, but working with music hasn't proved a particular strength so far. Iron Man seemed practically devoid of it, somehow, and what little music was perceptible was surprisingly low key. For this soundtrack, it looks like Gregg brought on music supervisor Lyle Hysen (Diggers and Junebug) so it seems as if soundtrack is playing a more prominent role this time around. Other featured artists include Radiohead, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Alap Momin, Fiery Furnaces, Ben Kweller, The Twilight Singers, Rogue Wave, and composer Nathan Larson on score.
Elegy. (out now) Really nice to see a non-score approach to film music that centers around classical and neo-chamber selections. It's the perfect choice for this somber and grown-up drama, adapted from Phillip Roth's The Dying Animal. Director Isabel Coixet acted as her own music supervisor on this one, which is usually a good sign for soundtrack. She included some interesting artists like Colleen (Cecile Schott), an avant garde composer who recently recorded an entire album's worth of material using only music boxes. There are some downtempo jazz selections here too, of the rainy-day-in-the-city sort. And whether or not you agree with Roth that melancholy intellectualism is sexy, Elegy does look like a finely acted piece of cinema.
Rachel Getting Married. (release date: Oct 3 2008) Everyone knows Jonathan Demme for Silence of
the Lambs and Philadelphia, but he also has quite the roster of concert films and videos including Stop Making Sense, Neil Young: Heart of Gold, and New Order: Substance among others, so I'm excited
to see a feature from Demme that looks as if it weaves together his gift for sophisticated narrative with a longstanding interest (and good taste) in music. TV on the Radio's lead singer, Tunde Adebimpe, plays one of the lead roles in the film, and Palestinian-American musician Tareq Abboushi makes an appearance too. The intriguing trailer is set to Rogue Wave's excellent cover of Buddy Holly's "Everyday." Extremely promising.
Synedoche, New York. (release date: Oct 2008) Charlie Kaufmann directs Phillip Seymour Hoffman? Yes please. This is the story of a theater director attempting to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse, so you know you'll be getting lots of those Escher-esque story-within-a-story puzzles that Kaufmann loves to play around with, but how will one of the world's greatest screenwriters work with music in his directorial debut? Bonnie Greenberg (The Sandlot, Pleasantville, The Mask) stepped in to do music supervision on this one, so the soundtrack will definitely be something more than wallpaper. Fingers crossed.
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. (release date: Oct 3 2008)
A teencom purporting to be about two music snobs had better deliver on
soundtrack, and several signs suggest that it will. The prolific Mark
Mothersbaugh (Devo) wrote the score and seasoned music supervisor Linda
Cohen (There Will Be Blood, American Splendor, Be Kind Rewind) was on board for this one too. The cutesy title is a little gag-making though
and the plot sounds a bit thin-slash-precious, so for us this one
remains a "we'll see." Soundtrack includes contributions from Devendra
Banhart, Vampire Weekend, We Are Scientists and Richard Hawley, among
others. Several indie rockers appear in the film itself including Banhart, Bishop Allen, and Project Jenny, Project Jan.
Other soundtrack goodness coming up soon: Burn After Reading by The Coen Brothers (August 27, 2008), Milk by Gus Van Sant (January 2008), Sex Drive (October 2008).