MOVIE PLAYLIST

THE CRITIC AND SCALA RADIO PRESENTER CHOOSES SCORES HE’S BEEN PLAYING ON HIS WEEKLY SHOW

ENYS MEN BY MARK JENKIN

As with his previous eradefining work Bait, Cornish cinematic bard Mark Jenkin has provided the score for this superbly eerie and haunting oddity. The soundtrack, which Invada have released both digitally and on limited-edition vinyl, is an atmospheric treat, full of squishy analogue throbs and plaintive, half-heard tune fragments, all blended together with the sounds of the sea and the wind, as if the music was oozing out of the landscape of the film. There are also fragments of dialogue which crackle through the ambient throng like ghostly voices at a séance. The overall effect is quite mesmerising; if you’re a fan of the OST of David Lynch’s Eraserhead, or of Mica Levi’s work on Monos, then this will be a contender for best album of 2023. Enys Men completists may also wish to track down the album Gwavas Lake by Brenda Wootton with the Four Lanes Male Choir, which boasts the spine-tingling rendition of ‘The Bristol Christ’ featured in the film. And don’t forget Gwenno’s ‘Kan Me’ from her album Tresor, which serves as Enys Men’s theme. Perfect!

THE IRON GIANT BY MICHAEL KAMEN

Toward the end of last year, Varèse Sarabande released a deluxe edition of Michael Kamen’s soundtrack to Brad Bird’s 1999 animated adaptation of Ted Hughes’ 1968 novel. The two-disc package comes with liner notes by Tim Greiving which include new interviews with Bird, music editor Christopher Brooks and orchestrator Blake Neely, and 13 minutes of alternates, outtakes and demos including a piano-and-guitar pass by Kamen and Eric Clapton at a song based on a Kamen theme. Having never been a fan of Clapton (musically, personally, politically), I kept it Kamen, which went down well with Scala listeners!

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT BY VOLKER BERTELMANN

On my MK3D show at the BFI Southbank in London, director Edward Berger talked about helming the first German production of Erich Maria Remarque’s 1928 novel, and using modern technology to bring the story right up-to-date — creating a film that really puts you there in the trenches, in the same way that Sam Mendes’ 1917 did. But it’s the music of Volker Bertelmann which really packs a punch — emotionally and dramatically. The score is an impressive combination of the old and the new — of bloodcurdling action and heart-breaking pathos.