The Best Film Soundtracks
Rachael Anderson
A great movie couldn’t exist without a great soundtrack. Cinema has been around since the early 20th century, however it wasn’t until the 1930’s until we saw the first non-silent film. As cinema has developed over time we have seen some films with exceptional soundtracks!
A films soundtrack draws the viewers attention deeper into the film as perfect music engages the viewer further into the storyline and makes them feel something from the film and leaves them thinking of it more.
It's significant for a film to have a carefully chosen soundtrack to fit it’s theme and to grab the viewers’ attention throughout. Some tracks may make or break a film and so it’s an important job for those behind the scenes in the world of film to pick songs carefully. For example, Pulp Fiction is one of the best films to come out of prestigious director Quentin Tarantino, not only due to it’s gorgeous cinematography and appealing visuals but also for the soundtrack which goes perfectly with the themes and mood of the film, threading the whole thing together. Many of the dominant scenes in this film wouldn’t be the same without the use of music such as the part where Mia Wallace is seen dancing to Urge Overkill’s Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon. It’s such an iconic piece of cinema as it depicts a short part of normal reality and juxtaposes with the reoccurring crazy world of drugs and money experienced by the film’s characters.
Another film which doesn’t go over kill with music but to which it still plays a dominant role is Richard Ayoade’s 2011 teen movie Submarine. I am not a huge fan of this film to be honest, however the soundtrack is impeccable. All written and sung by Arctic Monkeys front man Alex Turner, it’s hard for it not to be good. Throughout this film I am only vaguely a fan of the scenes that are featuring the music as I think the director places each song very well and accordingly to the emotion trying to be conveyed. The songs like ‘It’s Hard To Get Around The Wind’ really capture the emotion tremendously and I must give them credit for that.
It would be silly for films about music to have a poor soundtrack, however there are three key types of musical films; musicals, biographical picture depicting the life of a musician and an indie film of how someone (usually male from New York) wants to start a band. If any type of these films has a bad soundtrack it just automatically makes the film bad, fact. Musicals like Mamma Mia really hit the nail on the head with this as the use of storytelling through the media of ABBA songs is truly a genius idea and progressing even further to the second film and adding Cher to the cast is even more incredible. I couldn’t think of anything better! Grease is also a musical with a superb soundtrack, each song is iconic and catchy and it doesn’t even feel overdone as each track is better than the last.
Creating the soundtrack to biographical films of musicians is a very prestigious and important role within the background of the film as it must have the greatest tracks that everyone knows but also include the golden tracks, the fan favourites. It’s very difficult to include everything in such little time, however one film that done this perfectly was this year’s recent smash Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. This film has every track you could ever want to hear from Queen in the space of two hours and thirteen minutes. There isn’t anything I would change about it, it’s perfect!
Those indie films following the story of a wannabe musician tend to have fairly decent soundtracks, however one film that sets the bar high for any film of its kind is Scott Pilgrim VS The World. Given it isn’t really the generic indie film, it’s more of an action film but it does follow the story of a guitarist from a garage rock band, pretty generic, but the soundtrack is out of this world. If I could recommend a film based purely on the music behind it, it would have to be this one. Every song is just so good and ties in nicely with everything.
Some films rely heavily on music to progress further into the storyline one being Baby Driver, without a good soundtrack this film could quite possibly have been tragic. Each song chosen has a strong stance in the film and holds a key role, as each thing is in time to the music to fit the actions of Baby, as it’s known he needs music to get on with every day life. A key example of this was at the very beginning as Baby has a choreographed routine to ‘Harlem Shuffle’ by Bob & Earl and each step is perfectly in time to the music from Baby himself to the extras in the background to even the props, it’s all so immaculately done. Following from this, the first heist scene is so in time to the music of ‘Bellbottoms’ by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, this scene coincides perfectly with Mint Royale ‘Blue Song’ both the music video and this scene are identical as the whole idea from the film came to Edgar Wright when he directed it’s music video and it all just elaborated from there and as a result Baby Driver was born.
Trainspotting is also a film which heavily relies on music, however it’s not to the same extent as Baby Driver. The scenes of the early – mid 90’s are set with the use of music throughout the film as it tells the story of a couple of Scottish drug addicts just living their thrilling lives in the heart of the capital city, Edinburgh. The music of this film really captivates the whole essence of what the films about. Especially the key track, ‘Lust For Life’ by Iggy Pop, it became so iconic within the films whole character, even Iggy Pop himself made a music video with it. The use of this song as the opening title scene gives way to the viewer of what it’s all about, it kind of ties into the whole ‘choose life’ slogan adapted by Renton and crew a perfect example of how music can really benefit a films image, personally I think without the use of the song ‘Lust For Life’ Trainspotting wouldn’t have the same feel to it. Although that wasn’t the only piece of great music used in the film to emphasise a scene, ‘Perfect Day’ by Lou Reed was used in an ironic way as Renton was taken to hospital after his ‘final hit’ as the use of this song to any usual person would be bizarre as it seems strange to describe being in hospital as a perfect day however to Renton, he wasn’t caring he wouldn’t have known any better.
Overall a films soundtrack plays an important role in setting the correct atmosphere in specific scenes and with the right choice of music it can really make a film. Next time you stick on a movie, play closer attention to the music being played, it may make you appreciate the film more for what it is.
