By Abigail Henninger
In honor of the upcoming Superbowl Sunday for people who will mansplain the entire
plot of The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, (and if they are feeling really gracious, The
Godfather Part III), but not be able to name any female directors of color coming up.
By this I mean none other than the 98th Annual Academy Awards, also known most notably as The Oscars. I will be uncovering the most interesting category of award for us here at Volunteer Radio, thus being the Music.
Even though there are multiple awards for the Music category, the primary is Best
Original Score. To be considered for the category of Best Original Score, voters will look at the substantial collection of music created for the film. With a required 35% of the music produced needed to be original, it is easy to see how difficult the process of even being considered for the nomination would be.
Last year the lady that took home the last rose was Daniel Blumberg for his work in The Brutalist (2024). His style can be described as avant-garde and intense, containing mainly jazz and chamber-style music .
Despite his mesmerizing work, some fans were left disappointed in the fan favorite, Challengers, not even being nominated. Even with its high-energy techno inspired score being composed by The Trent Reznor (Of Nine Inch Nails, if you’re into that) and Atticus Ross.
This year the final five contestants standing, with only one more rose to give out is:
Jerskin Fendrix for Bugonia, Ludwig Göransson for Sinners, Alexandre Desplat for
Frankenstein, Max Richter for Hamnet, and finally Jonny Greenwood for One Battle After
Another. Fendrix produces a unique sound which perfectly complements the unsettling and absurd story director Yargos Lanthimos creates in Bugonia. Fendrix finds a way to transport you to different universes through swelling stringed instruments and synthesizers, it makes this movie a must watch (just don’t do it with a full stomach).
One of the most widely discussed pieces this year is obviously the Southern Gothic horror, Sinners. Göransson’s evocative and haunting score was impossible to ignore for anyone who has had the opportunity to hear it. However, The Oscars are infamous for snubbing horror films, so it will definitely be interesting to see which way this goes.
Alexandre Desplat’s work is seen as this year’s “underdog”, despite this his work in Frankenstein gives a refreshing take on a classic horror score. With two out of
five of the nominated scores coming from horror films, I can not help but wonder if we are
seeing a new age of Oscar nominations?
The most controversial of the nominations is Richter’s performance in Hamnet. Many viewers argue that since Hamnet’s score contains pieces of Richter’s pre-existing 2004 composition, “On the Nature of Daylight”, it should not count. Regardless of your view on this score, Hamnet is worth the watch for everyone, but especially English majors and literary fanatics.
Finally Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood shows his background by giving his score a distorted-petal tone. Using primarily “rock” instruments like guitar and piano and combining it with an orchestra complementing the fast-pasted action drama.
With each of them giving fantastic work, it will be hard to say who will emerge to be the next Bachelorette.
Despite who you believe deserves to win this year’s Academy Award Best Original Score,
it is obvious all of these composers have given their whole heart into creating their work of art. So go watch these movies and listen to the good music. But don’t forget to tune in on Sunday, March 15th at 7:00 to catch this year’s Academy Award. If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for the filmbros.