Here’s a round-up of recommended scores that caught my attention over the week ending, 14th October 2022.
Laika & Nemo (2022) – Jens Heuler (Jens Heuler)
Laika & Nemo (dirs. Jan Gadermann, Sebastian Gadow) is a gorgeous-looking short film featuring village outcast Nemo, a boy who feels different from his neighbours: and he wears a cumbersome, old-school-styled diving suit (his classmates are all dressed as pirates or mermaids). One day he meets Laika, an astronaut (who is dressed in a remarkably similar fashion), and Nemo’s world changes. This stop-motion animation has very little dialogue, helping to showcase German composer Jens Heuler’s beautiful score. Featuring a small number of musicians from the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg, Heuler’s delicate wind ensemble quickly establishes Nemo’s inner feelings, and this device changes ever so subtly as the story unfolds. Although the score does break out into more action/drama-oriented moments when required, the focus of the music is as a character-driven support. [It’s interesting that, despite several reviewers’ comments highlighting the lack of dialogue, few (if any) mention Heuler’s score. In fact, one reviewer’s comments suggests that the viewer is able to focus on two things (because of the lack of dialogue): better appreciate the animation, and appreciate the nuances of the story!]
Lost Eidolons (2022) – Clark Aboud (Clark Aboud)
Turn-based role-playing games where, as the name suggests, players take turns to advance their progress for various objectives, seems to be a format that relies on the soundtrack more than other types of games: there seems to be a lot of moving characters around with little actually happening. In Lost Eidolons players take on the role of a mercenary captain during a civil war who leads a band of men against various enemies. British composer Clark Aboud’s music is a solid orchestral score that mixes live orchestra (Sofia Session Orchestra), solo instruments (e.g., woodwinds, “historical bowed instruments”) and synth-based orchestral elements. The action scoring is appropriately exciting, the more restrained elements allow the listener to catch their breath, and the use of the historical instruments does a good job of establishing an appropriate time period. Aboud’s score for Lost Eidolons is a good example that smaller scale projects are just as able at creating effective music alongside multi-composer, multi-million dollar headliner game titles.
My Fairy Troublemaker (2022) – Martin Lingnau & Ingmar Süberkrüb (Karussell)
The German/Luxembourg animation feature, My Fairy Troublemaker (dir. Caroline Origer), has fairy Violetta getting lost once she has entered the human world, and the movie spends the rest of the running time following her attempts to get back to her own world. Recently a winner of the “Original Score for an Animated Feature” at our 10th Reel Music Awards, My Fairy Troublemaker features a cheery orchestral score from composing duo, Martin Lingau and Ingmar Süberkrüb. Orchestra and vocals (choir and soloists) blend well to create music that delivers in terms of dramatic heft, fragile emotional support, and delivering a satisfying resolution. A highlight animated score for 2022 (obviously!).
Reel Music 