Top 5: Scores Of 2022
With each new year’s wave of films comes an array of new cinematic soundscape. Whether it marries perfectly with the visuals or can be cranked up on its own, a film’s score is integral to its atmosphere and overall aesthetic. At its very best, it enriches the film’s power by providing a layer of aural information that can deepen the viewer’s read on its characters and plot just as much as a the visuals.
2022 delivered its fair share of fantastic compositions, and while many captured our ear and our heart, only a handful are held dear. Here’s our picks for the best film scores from last year!
5: Daniel Lopatin, The Viewing
Daniel Lopatin really sets the mood for Panos Cosmatos’ latest offering, The Viewing, made for Guillermo del Toro’s Netflix series, The Cabinet Of Curiosities. The film is a lavish, hour-long chamber piece that marks another trippy, hypnotic face-melter for Panos, and Lopatin’s stellar synth score definitely aides the goopy, gonzo experience, turning into a bonkers audio-visual feast. Like Jóhann Jóhannsson before him, Lopatin exhibits a synchronicity with Cosmatos’ cosmic vision, and he completely services the atmosphere while dropping some tasty badass grooves that will have you bobbing your head. When you add the synth soundscapes with the lush cinematography, phenomenal set design, and incredible cast, you’ve got one intoxicating strange-brew stew that will really get you lifted.
Best Cut: “The Viewing Suite”
4: John Williams, The Fabelmans
If anyone is in tune with Steven Spielberg’s cinematic confections, it’s John Williams. The two have collaborated on 31 films, with Williams crafting some absolutely iconic pieces of music along the way. The Fabelmans might not hold a menorah to the sweeping grandiosity of Close Encounters, Jurassic Park, or E.T, but it’s emblematic of Williams’ ability to capture Spielberg’s emotional core on screen. Similar to Jaws, it finds Williams going minimal, relying on predominantly piano compositions that are grand, yet whispery, heartfelt, and heartbreaking. It’s a wistfully haunting score that provides the emotional backbone for the rest of the delightful film to affectionately build upon. Spielberg’s visuals and heart are both expectedly strong in The Fabelmans, but it’s Williams’ score that takes the audience to a place of goosebumps or tears.
Best Cuts: “The Fabelmans,” and “Mitzi’s Dance”
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross dropped two excellent scores in one year again, and they were both expectedly great (even if the associated film was not)! With Bones And All, Reznor and Ross lean into Americana, trading in their nervy electronics for acoustic guitar to create romantic melodies that ache with loneliness and longing. There’s a melancholic beauty and a simple elegance to the arrangements that underscore the love shared between the film’s leads, but there’s also a sinister and horrifying quality lurking underneath the acoustic instrumentations that hints at the tragedy that awaits our star-crossed lovers. With Empire Of Light, Reznor and Ross deliver an hour of quality music highlights the mood and tone of the world. Unfortunately, when you watch the film, you experience very little of it, which is such a shame because there’s a lot of warm heartfelt arrangements and jaw-droppingly beautiful melodies.
Best Cuts: “8AM, Christmas Eve,” “I’m With You,” Great Wide Open”
2: VAAAL, A Wounded Fawn
The score from first-time film composer VAAAL is the decadent cherry on top of A Wounded Fawn’s wild, weird, and hallucinatory trip, and it’s definitely the breakout film score of the year. A mix of lush electronics, eerie melody, noise, and furious strings, with spats of driving percussion, VAAAL’s arrangements complete the vibe and absolutely do wonders for the film’s overall atmospherics. Pulling inspiration from giallo, 70s horror, and classic noir, VAAAL delivers sonic sorcery and all around badassery with his musical experimentations here. Sexy and seductive, but also frenzied and chaotic, the intricate and tactile soundscapes help to sweep the viewer away into the surreal, mystic madness of this wonderfully bonkers arthouse slasher.
Best Cuts: “The Red Owl,” Meredith’s Theme”
1: Michael Giacchino, The Batman
Michael Giacchino delivers a phenomenal score for Matt Reeves’ The Batman that captures its operatic highs and deep, dark recesses. He exhibits excellent range and sets up musical motifs and themes that give this gothic neo-noir an appropriately epic feel. He not only underscores the thrills and triumphs of the action, but he also creates some achingly romantic and eerily haunting melodies that really solidify the film’s overall mood and attitude. A combination of simple, yet powerful melodies and rich, layered orchestration, Giacchino’s efforts really do Batman justice. It’s been a long time since a superhero score felt this soaring and epic. There’s a Sergio Leone-like quality to its instrumentation and its use of guitar and bells to give off a western feel, which further adds to its charms. This is one superhero score we won’t soon forget.
Best Cuts: “The Batman,” “The Riddler,” “Funeral And Far Between”
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!