On Movies, Musicians and Soundtracks

In the latest edtion of senses of cinema you'll find four intersting articles about soundtracks and moving images. In »NO DIRECTION HOME: Looking Forward from Don’t Look Back« TIM O'FARELL shows some fundamental connections between the latest Scorsese picture and two documentaries by D.A. Pennebaker, »Don’t Look Back« (1967) and »Eat the Document« (1972). The article addresses the historical reframing of such footage for contemporary use and makes quite obvious why »No Direction Home« ist not just a Scorsese picture.

In »Observable Death Gus Van Sant's LAST DAYS« the filmstudent and author JOHN LARS ERICSON is watching and reading Gust van Sant with the german filmtheorist Siegfried Kracauer, regarding the concept of realism: »If Last Days is a true »found story«, then it strikes a balance between both tendencies. This is where the distinction is made: Last Days is not a simple recreation of reality, but indeed transforms and comments on reality as well. Take the metaphysical transcendence of Blake at the film’s ending: such a concept is not a simple recording of nature, but it is a transformation of it. This particular transformation is difficult to analyse, given that it resides on a more ‘spiritual’ level – akin to the ‘journey into another world’ segment of 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968) or the ending of Mouchette (Bresson, 1967). Even still, such a transformation exists as a comment on reality purely because it is metaphysical.«

DENICE MCMAHON, a writer and musician, gives an »Analysis of the Soundtrack in the Work of Malcolm Le Grice«. »Le Grice has been described in reviews as being one of the most remarkable alternative filmmakers of the second half of the 20th century and rightly so. He is an artist with a filmography listing almost fifty works produced between 1965 and 2004, as well as being an academic and an active theorist, particularly in the area of structural film. Avant-garde cinema has a long and illustrious tradition of experimentation between image and music. The work of this seminal structural/materialist filmmaker is further testament to that abiding practice.«

»Give Me a Second Grace«: And finally CAROLE LYN PIECHOTA does an insightful thematic cross-reading of Royal Tenenbaums narrative in relation to its pop-music soundtrack.

Could a song tell more than a thousand words? »Ironically, much of what the viewer might infer about Margot is revealed through what she hides. Her repression suggests shame, guilt and quiet longing. In the first of the three musical sequences to be examined, Margot’s interior self is more openly displayed, allowing for hitherto unexpressed emotion. In this scene, Margot meets Richie, via the Green Line bus, following his year-long excursion at sea. As Margot descends the bus steps toward the pier where Richie is waiting, she is filmed in slow motion; the evanescent strains of Nico’s “These Days” monopolizes the soundtrack and provides the most complete and sincere translation of Margot’s emotions. The instrumentation, lyrical content and associated imagery work in tandem to create a confessional environment for Margot.

The lyrics of “These Days” may be read as an outward manifestation of Margot’s psyche. As such, they will be reproduced below in their entirety.«

These Days
I’ve been out walking
I don’t do too much talking
These days, these days.
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
And all the times I had the chance to.

I’ve stopped my rambling,
I don’t do too much gambling
These days, these days.
These days I seem to think about
How all the changes came about my ways
And I wonder if I’ll see another highway.

I had a lover,
I don’t think I’ll risk another
These days, these days.
And if I seem to be afraid
To live the life that I have made in song
It’s just that I’ve been losing so long.
La la la la la, la la.

I’ve stopped my dreaming,
I won’t do too much scheming
These days, these days.
These days I sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten.
Please don’t confront me with my failures,
I had not forgotten them.