ellis music (for a film)

Folks, you need to know about this music. I'm not typically one for film scores. It seems like James Horner composes all of them and he bores the hell out of me (however, I will admit I liked the music from Titanic). I'm not a fan of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, even though I feel like I should be, that I'm a bad person as a result. Apparently he's regarded as an extremely talented and important musician. I really have no idea who Warren Ellis is. He's in some sort of a band with Cave called Grinderman. I am, however, a big fan of the work Cave and Ellis do together for film. I've seen The Proposition and I didn't really like it all that much. I have seen The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford more than once, in fact I own a copy, and it's one of my all time favorite films. Everything about the movie is beautiful - the settings, the scenery, the lighting, the music, the tragedy, the sadness and the paranoia. After watching that film and learning that Nick Cave had something to do with the music I had to take another listen. I haven't stopped listening since. I watched The Proposition strictly out of interest in the music. I will watch The Road for the same reason. Well, that and because Strider, uh…I mean Viggo Mortensen, is in it. However, I think the strength of these film scores is that you don't necessarily have to see the film in order to appreciate the music.

If you choose one soundtrack to listen to, make it Jesse James. I'm partial to that one, probably because I enjoyed the film so much but I also think the score works better on it's own, as a whole. An even better choice, however, would be the two-disc set Cave and Ellis released last year, White Lunar. It's a collection of some of the music they have composed together for various films. Most of the time the compositions are simple and quiet with minimal instrumentation. There are some strings (which I think is what Warren Ellis contributes) and a piano. I'm not too familiar with Cave's other work, which as previously stated, makes me feel inferior. What I have heard is very different from these film scores though. He's in a rock band, right? The simple, restrained approach he and Ellis take for these films is so effective though. They manage to capture the emotions and feel of the films perfectly.

In The Proposition there is tension, there is desperation, there is evil, hatred and violence. Cave actually wrote the screenplay for this one so, it makes sense that he would be able to channel the emotion so effectively. The music is generally sparse. It's ambient and broad, much like the Australian outback where the film is set. At times it's menacing, threatening and Cave adds his vocals in those places, teasing you with words spoken, as you might imagine a dark foe would. In Jesse James there is isolation and depression. There is longing and suspicion. There is a restlessness mixed with a quiet anger. Ellis sets his violin to work, laying the ground work for the heavy emotions flowing under Jesse's gun slinger persona and Ford's unquenchable ambition. The two of them, James and Ford, do a careful dance around each other's intentions most of the film as Cave and Ellis quietly compose a dance of their own, one filled with sunsets, snowfalls, beauty and great sadness. It's captivating.

I had hoped that my interest in these soundtracks would translate into more of an interest in Nick Cave's other work, but no dice. Guess I'll have to get used to being a second class citizen.