As everyone looks back on the year that was, I've found myself returning to a few moments in the movies that resonated especially well thanks to a phenomenon that achieves soul-stirring status so rarely, though not for lack of frequency: Song choice. I'm not talking about dropping the latest Kelly Clarkson/Natasha Bedingfield ditty into a crap rom-com. I mean the special, skin-tingling magic that occurs when a song is married so perfectly to a character, story, or feeling that the music and the moment swell within us with new, layered meaning. Join me and let's hash it out: Which movie(s) used music the best in 2011?
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Electro musician (and Italians Do It Better label owner) Johnny Jewel elaborated on the Drive score he was commissioned to compose by director Nicolas Winding Refn. "Nic flew to Montreal and we rented a movie theater and he and I watched the movie twice in a row, back-to-back. We talked about every single scene and all the music. So then from there, I had a month to finish the score." Although Refn opted to use Cliff Martinez's score for the final film, fans will get another Refn-Jewel collaboration when Jewel scores another upcoming Refn film: Logan's Run.
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The musical partnership between director Nicolas Winding Refn and electronic musician Johnny Jewel dates back to Refn's Bronson, which used a track from Jewel's group Glass Candy to strike its stylized period feel. For Refn's latest film, the L.A.-set crime thriller Drive, he turned once more to Jewel to help create an '80s-tinged pop synth sound -- and the inspiration seemed to go both ways, as evidenced by drawings and a full collection of Drive-inspired tracks created by Jewel and his musical collaborators.
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