For soundtrack collectors, 2023 may be remembered as a
year of little consensus and general dissatisfaction with the quality of
film music. Theaters weren't the place to find the best soundtrack music
of the year, and the average ratings at Filmtracks for 2023 scores were
among the lowest in a long time. No single score managed to transcend to
join the qualified classics of prior years, the field of nominees below
highly respectable but relatively disappointing in sum.
Not a single film score earned a full five-star rating at Filmtracks in
2023, but there was solace to be found in the music of television
series, video games, and archival compilations. Stephen Barton and
Frederick Wiedmann's music for the television series "Star Trek: Picard
(Season 3)," Pinar Toprak's leading contributions to the score for the
video game "Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora," and James Newton Howard's
brilliant rearrangements in the "Night After Night: Music From the
Movies of M. Night Shyamalan" compilation all provide resounding
five-star strength beyond the top film score nominees below.
Still, there is much to appreciate in the scattered highlights of 2023's
movie music, and Filmtracks' top selections ultimately emphasize
nostalgia beyond all else. No composer achieved even three nominations,
which is an extreme rarity in these awards. Each nominated twice is Kris
Bowers, Alan Menken, Takatsugu Muramatsu, John Powell, Corey Wallace,
Benjamin Wallfisch, John Williams, Christopher Young, and the duo of
Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro. There is a healthy spread of veteran
presence and exciting newcomers in the nominations, however, with more
than ten composers represented here for the first time.
Not since 2008 has Filmtracks been unable to find a
five-star film score out of the hundreds surveyed during the year. Like
that year, 2023 offered several entertaining four-star works of high
merit, but since none could stand on par with the five-star entries of
other years, no score earns the top award in this field. The five
nominees are presented unranked amongst themselves. In a nod to the
nostalgia factor that has prevailed three years in a row at Filmtracks,
five of the top seven scores have some connection back to 1989, whether
in their familiar style of writing or outright use of existing themes.
While Williams'
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Menken's
remake of
The Little Mermaid, and Powell's
Migration all
comfort the ears with those composers' continued mastery, Muramatsu's
rousing and at times beautiful Japanese comedy music for
In Love and
Deep Water and Wallace's endearing, highly intelligent homage to
Williams for
Supercell earn due recognition. Finishing in the
runner-up position is Wallfisch's diversely engrossing
The Flash,
itself rich references to 1989 and containing a number of fantastic
individual highlights that more than overcome the score's weaker parts.
Rounding out the top ten are Christopher Young's intoxicatingly
effective
The Piper, Zimmer and Mazzaro's compellingly poignant
The Creator, Jeremy Zag's frenetic but immense children's score
for
Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie, and John Murphy's
eccentric but often beautiful
Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3.
Looking in at the top ten from the margins this year are Carlos Rafael
Rivera's heartfelt and boisterous cultural blend in
Chupa, Gordy
Haab's impressively epic
Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of
Storms, and George Kallis' ultimate chill-out entry for
After
Everything.
The "Top Film Cue" category is restricted to twenty
nominees, with the number of runner-ups capped at ten and honorable
mentions limited to twenty. No single score can receive more than two
nominations in this field, but 2023 is unusual in that the only two
scores with multiple cues represented did not themselves receive a
nomination for "Top Film Score." It is thus a rare year in which the top
five works only placed one cue each in this category, further testimony
to the general weakness of the field overall.
Five of the twenty nominated cues were competitive for the win. Menken's
immense opening to
The Little Mermaid, "Triton's Kingdom,"
Young's alluringly creepy "Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, Movement 2"
from
The Piper, Wallace's extraordinary moment of adventure in
"William's Escape" from
Supercell, and Wallfisch's outlandishly
awesome tribute to Elliot Goldenthal and Danny Elfman in "I am Batman"
from
The Flash all would have made an excellent winner. But for
the hopeless romantics out there, Muramatsu's propulsive and gorgeous
"Reality" from
In Love and Deep Water snags the prize, its blend
of the composer's own, rollicking piano performances with solo voices
and other unique accents not to be missed.
In the second tier of 2023 cues is Haab's redemptive symphonic grace in
"Return to West Qi" from
Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of
Storms, Zimmer and Mazzaro's compellingly gripping "Standby" from
The Creator, Zag's whirlwind action romp, "Stoneheart," from
Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie, Tom Holkenborg's
pretty and ethereal "My Life For Hers" from
Rebel Moon - Part One: A
Child of Fire, and Williams' "The Airport" from
Indiana Jones and
the Dial of Destiny, a cue that better represents the best of
Williams' narrative mastery than his suites or restatements of prior
music in that score. Although short, Rivera's "Azul!!!" from
Chupa remains the most amusing action comedy cue of the year,
complete with unparalleled Latin flair.
Rounding out the nominees for 2023 are Christophe Beck's muscularly
rousing "Hymenoptera" from
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,
Powell's inspirational flying theme in "The Key to Regurgitation" from
Migration, Bowers' culminating interpolations of classic Disney
ride music into the exciting "Bruce to the Rescue" from
Haunted
Mansion, Murphy's beautiful vocal cue (among several), "Dido's
Lament," from
Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 , Kallis' suite of
attractive themes in "After Everything" from
After Everything,
and Vanessa Garde's Middle Eastern comedy fantasy combination in the
opening "La Llegada a Marruecos" from
Ocho Apellidos
Marroquís.
For one of the most unique cues of the year, Diego Baldenweg, Nora
Baldenweg, and Lionel Baldenweg's ultra-cool Western tone, complete with
outstanding harmonica performances, flourishes in "Irish Western Ballad"
from
In the Land of Saints and Sinners. Finally, two scores
secured multiple nominations in this field due to heartbreaking
expressions of grandeur. Zimmer and Mazzaro's romantic evolution in
"True Love" from
The Creator and Wallfisch defiant rendition of
Supergirl's theme in "I've Got You" from
The Flash offered
moments as powerful as any in film music during 2023.
The list of runner-ups features several additional cues from scores
already represented in this category, including Menken's impressively
layered "Finale" from
The Little Mermaid, Powell's cheery charm
in "Migration Continues" from
Migration, and Muramatsu's
unashamed and overflowing romanticism in "Sailing Into Love" from
In
Love and Deep Water.
Joining them as runner-ups are Young's monstrously immense "Suite" from
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Hell, Brian Tyler's smartly faithful and
humorous "Super Mario Bros. Opus" from
The Super Mario Bros.
Movie, Desplat's delightful "Poughkeepsie" from
The Boys in the
Boat, Karpman's heroic "Arrival on Aladna" from
The Marvels,
The Newton Brothers' extremely catchy "Five Nights at Freddy's" from
Five Nights at Freddy's, and a pair of impressive Balfe cues:
"Thick as Thieves" from
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
and "Earth" from
Life on Our Planet.
In contention but eliminated earlier in the selection process were the
following cues receiving honorable mentions (listed alphabetically by
film title): Karpman's mysterious piano ambience in "My Pafology" from
American
Fiction, Mark Mothersbaugh's rocking and rowdy "Cokey Comes Alive" from
Cocaine
Bear, Haab's dramatic "West Qi/Homeland" from
Creation of the
Gods I: Kingdom of Storms, Zimmer and Mazzaro's grippingly agonized
"She's Not Real" from
The Creator, Diego Navarro's disturbingly
striking "El Cuco Suite (Créditos Finales)" from
El Cuco,
Blair Mowat's immensely perverse "Jekyll and Hyde" from
Doctor
Jekyll, and Emily Bear's ebulliently bright "Dog Gone" from
Dog
Gone.
Also contending but eliminated were Thomas Newman's trademark
atmospheric pleasantries in "Across the Ocean" from
Elemental,
Murphy's choral majesty in "Who We Are" from
Guardians of the Galaxy:
Vol. 3, Christopher Willis' solemn beauty in "The Parable of the
Serpent" from
Lamya's Poem, Anthony Willis' creative
interpolation of song into "Tell Me Your Dreams" from
M3GAN,
Balfe's tonally driving action of "Get Out Now" from
Mission:
Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Garde's ethnically alluring
"Essaouira" from
Ocho Apellidos Marroquís, and Bowers's
respectfully pensive "Set Us Free" from
Origin.
Completing the list of honorable mentions are Toprak's heroic bravado in
"PAW Patrol to the Rescue" from
PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie,
Holkenborg's engrossing vocal accents in "The Weight of Lions" from
Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire, Anthony Willis' frothy
resolution in "Almost None" from
Saltburn, Christophe Julien's
joyous choral dance in "Second Tour" from
Second Tour, Balfe's
classically-infused 8-bit romp in "Puzzle Piece" from
Tetris, and
Joby Talbot and Neil Hannon's conclusive fanfare in "Chocolate Fountain"
from
Wonka.
