It is no new discovery that there’s power in music. In the ancient Greece, Pythagoras, a man with much clout, claimed that musical modes (scales) were forces to be reckoned with and that they consequently had a strong effect on man. more...

Springbreak/Easter holiday 2008 more...

The second to last thing to get moved from our last apartment was my record player. I eventually picked it from S. and D., carried it somewhat carelessly home under my arm, and when I hooked it up it didn't work. I wasn't much of a fixer at this point, so it's been sitting still for quite some time now. Until one day when I mustered up the courage and opened it up. more...

In contrast to the overwhelming presence of the music in There Will Be Blood, Ethan and Joel Coen's No Country For Old Men stands out in a very different way. There is no music in the film. It took me a while before I realized that not a single note had been played and I think the closest thing to music was an old ringing phone.

The interesting thing with music in films is that most people seem to not notice, and when I pointed it out to A., she said "really?". I think that is an impressive feat in itself to not lean on or use music at all in a feature film. An extremely bold and confident decision by the Coen brothers, and the film really didn't need music. I'd be curious to know if they decided early on or if they starting cutting it with music in mind. Either way, it's another fantastic film well-deserving of its Academy Awards. Personally, I would've had a really hard time picking the winner between No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood. more...

I have now seen Paul Thomas Anderson's masterful film There Will Be Blood. It's a breathtaking film with fantastic cinematography, amazing performances and a strong, surprisingly bold score.

I don’t think I have seen a film where the music almost singlehandedly sets the tone of the film. Whereas the film starts out as a hopeful tale for a prosperous well digger, soon to be oil mogul, Greenwood’s music does no attempt of supporting this notion. On the contrary, the music foreshadows the darkness that lies ahead, which the title of the film also, and not very subtly, suggests. It feels like two worlds are clashing, as if darkness slowly overcomes the good in a man.

The result of this dichotomy is an almost unbearable nerve that you can’t tell where it’s coming from. It drives the film forward and strongly contributes to the film’s greatness. The score is clearly exceptional music by itself, but with the film, it takes on a much larger and more important role than music usually does in Hollywood films and maybe in large as a result of Greenwood not being a Hollywood composer.
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