Dear Ann,
It was so cute at the Oscars when Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won for that song from the “Once” soundtrack and then both stumped for indie art. What are some of your favorite soundtracks, especially ones that have helped expose new artists?
– Marina P., Glendale, Calif.
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Dear Cinephile,
My Irish American heart swelled to see Mr. Hansard finally getting some stateside love after years of laboring with the Frames – a great band that still hasn’t really broken here. Hooking up with a Czech teen prodigy was a smart move. “Once” is a special case, because John Carney made it as an homage to Hansard’s music (before turning to film, Carney was a Frame) and to the magic of his musical connection with Irglova. But I digress…. “Juno” is, of course, the other big soundtrack of the season — why the supremely droll Kimya Dawson didn’t get an Oscar nod is beyond me. That film follows a common path in soundtracks, using one quirky musical voice to echo and enhance those of the main characters. “Juno” takes an interesting turn when lead actors Ellen Page and Michael Cera actually sing a song by Dawson’s duo, the Moldy Peaches – effectively switching roles with Dawson, echoing and enhancing her voice. This melding of cinematic vision and the pop sound was pioneered in the late 1960s, when rock dominated the zeitgeist and the bad boys of the art house reigned. “The Graduate” defined the era. Director Mike Nichols found a perfect counterpart to Dustin Hoffman’s middle-class lost boy in nebbishy Paul Simon, then at his most museful and quietly furious. Nichols essentially wrote the film to fit around Simon & Garfunkel’s post-collegiate pop.
