10. Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time
Five years after its prequel, the fourth and final chapter of Hideaki Anno’s Rebuild of Evangelion series has finally been unleashed with the mouthful of a title Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time. Returning for the climactic tale of giant robots and monsters, existentialism, and family affairs is Shirō Sagisu, who scored the original series Neon Genesis Evangelion as well as the three other Rebuild pictures, and his music is utterly joyful.
Sagisu’s modern classical style is the perfect fit for the kaiju hijinks, and he’s easily able to elevate it to operatic mode, encompassing various styles to fit Anno’s ludicrously inventive imagination. There are these beautifully melodramatic sections that you could easily get lost in, with some amazing solo choral vocals. Then you’re confronted with intense action setpieces, including a reprise of the original battle music from the show that took its cue from John Barry’s “007 Theme”. Oh, and he gets Handel and Mozart in there too.
9. Pig
Scoring Michael Sarnoski’s Nicolas Cage-starring drama must have been confounding at best. So it’s amazing that such an incredible score sprouted from its roots, courtesy of Alexis Grapsas and Philip Klein. The pair’s music begins with a very defined sense of lushness, courtesy of a gorgeous tune on the guitar and bowed violin, and that meditative quality continues until the film hits the city and the guitars become distorted and strange.
But the composers use that opening melody as an emotional anchor, reinterpreting it and recontextualizing it, through beauty and pain. There’s a sense of rebirth by the end, a very uncomfortable process, yet one that is necessary and which allows us to return to the serenity of the opening. A captivating elegy.
8. The Night House
David Bruckner’s The Night House is a tale of secrets of the past emerging with the supernatural, and Ben Lovett‘s score is the perfect companion. At its core is a beautiful lament of a theme, a deceptively simple melody that hides layers of complexity amidst its melancholy notes, which is further built upon as things begin to unravel.
Harmony struggles to overcome dissonance, and before long, ghostly tones overwhelm proceedings with high strings that feel like tentacles reaching out. Plus, thumping percussion that sounds like something you want to run from. We cling onto that original melody like a child onto its parent, even as a cacophony of terrifying tones tries to make us succumb. This makes it all the more vital that when we do emerge on the other side, it’s still there to comfort us. Such is its power.
7. The Green Knight
One of the most fruitful director-composer partnerships of recent times has been David Lowery and Daniel Hart, and this continues with Lowery’s adaptation of the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Hart’s approach is perfect for the tone, using a palette that sounds like instruments from the 14th century but also electronic elements, as well as heavy use of vocals singing faux-Middle English poetry.
This means that when the score does approach waters more traditional, it’s immediately more impactful, and certainly more emotionally satisfying. What you come away with is the feeling of experiencing a haunting, something lingering in the memory that will not leave, which here, is entirely appropriate.
6. Drive My Car
There’s a wonderful sense of freedom in Eiko Ishibashi‘s score for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s critical darling Drive My Car. It’s often ambient and passive and runs from quirky jazzy tones to minimalist piano and strings, but whatever the style and instrumentation are, there’s always a sense of the liberation that the road allows, and the way a car can create lasting bonds of friendship.
The score is immensely poetic, almost set out like a sequence of vignettes, and at points, it feels like eavesdropping, like listening to a private and intimate conversation that you shouldn’t be. The variations can be challenging, but there’s never an idea that it’s imprinting something specific on you. Just sit back, close your eyes, and enjoy the loveliness.
Continue reading our list of the best movies scores of 2021 on the next page…
Related Topics: 2021 Rewind
