Best matchings of images and music [Archive]

megladon8

06-06-2009, 01:45 AM

Listening to "Burn" by The Cure, I'm remembering how eerily perfect it was for the scene in The Crow where Eric Draven first emerges from his grave, relives his death and the murder of his fiancée, then puts on his make-up and black outfit.

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/7623/thecrow1w.jpg

This was such a pivotal scene during my adolescence. Perhaps that presents a bias, but I really think the wonderful atmosphere that The Cure brings to their music fit the film's look and feel perfectly. The film serves as a very strong cultural statement and critique, and is underappreciated as such.

The chorus fits so well with this scene in particular...

"Every night I burn
Every night I call your name
Every night I burn
Every night I fall again
Every night I burn
Scream the animal scream
Every night I burn
Dream the crow black dream"

BuffaloWilder

06-06-2009, 04:15 AM

The shootout set to My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult's "After the Flesh," later on in the film.

trotchky

06-06-2009, 05:01 AM

Andrew Gold's "Lonely Boy" in Boogie Nights.

The song and the scene play out at a leisurely pace as Luis Guzman answers a phone at Burt Reynold's pool party. It's someone asking for their mother, "Maggie," and the camera follows Guzman further into the room as he looks for the woman. No takers. He walks back to the phone, which Don Cheadle has been staring at. "Yeah, I'm sorry, there's no Maggie here." "Who was that?," Cheadle asks, but he already knows the answer: "Some kid looking for his mom."

Just then we CUT and the camera MOVES INTO Julian Moore snorting a line of cocaine, and the song PEAKS with "Oh what a lonely boy!" as Julian Moore stares with a vaguely predatory look at Mark Wahlberg jumping in slow motion into Burt Reynold's pool.

Best use of pop music in a movie, ever. I still get chills, every single time I see it.

Some other highlights from Boogie Nights:

The song "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate notes "I was one of the lonely people" over a shot of P.S. Hoffman looking forlorn and...lonely after Mark Wahlberg blows him off.

The supreme irony of "Jessie's Girl," the one song in the movie that has nothing to do with anything that's happening on screen, being the song over which Wahlberg has his close-up moment of revelation/emotional rollercoaster in one single shot.

trotchky

06-06-2009, 05:03 AM

Also of note is Amie Mann's cover of "One" which plays over Magnolia's character introduction montage.

And the slow-mo shot of rain drops falling off John C. Reilly's jacket to "Momentum" is just fucking cool.

And "Save Me"'s third verse timed to the final image/"Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson" is simultaneously the height of arrogance and the height of affection.

Ivan Drago

06-06-2009, 05:21 AM

Donnie Darko - "For Whom The Bell Tolls" during the movie theater scene. So hauntingly epic.

In The Mood For Love - the Angkor Wat finale when Chan (right?) whispers into the tree

balmakboor

06-07-2009, 12:49 AM

The hooker walking to These Boots are Made for Walking in Full Metal Jacket. It's always been a fave.

Milky Joe

06-07-2009, 01:41 AM

The Life Aquatic - "Life On Mars" playing during the long tracking shot of Zissou going to smoke a joint after just being reunited with his son is one of the best Wes Anderson moments of all time. The way it syncs up with that first, long toke is a thing of beauty.

Barry Lyndon - I don't know what it is, but the music playing in the scene where Barry first meets Lady Lyndon.

D_Davis

06-07-2009, 01:57 AM

Once Upon a Time in the West:

"Jill's America" played as the camera pans up from Jill and we see the first glimpse of the western town. One of my favorite moments in all of cinema.

Mulholland Dr.:

"Crying" played at the theater when the blue box is discovered.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me:

"Questions in a World of Blue (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCV_kTjuguQ)" played when Laura sees Julie Cruise at the lodge.

trotchky

06-07-2009, 01:57 AM

The Life Aquatic - "Life On Mars" playing during the long tracking shot of Zissou going to smoke a joint after just being reunited with his son is one of the best Wes Anderson moments of all time. The way it syncs up with that first, long toke is a thing of beauty.

Barry Lyndon - I don't know what it is, but the music playing in the scene where Barry first meets Lady Lyndon.

Agree with both of these.

Another great Anderson moment is "Hey Jude" climaxing just after "Go Mordecai!" in The Royal Tenenbaums's prologue segment.

MacGuffin

06-07-2009, 02:57 AM

The Life Aquatic - "Life On Mars" playing during the long tracking shot of Zissou going to smoke a joint after just being reunited with his son is one of the best Wes Anderson moments of all time. The way it syncs up with that first, long toke is a thing of beauty.

Yeah, you're right, I nearly gasped out loud the first time that happened.

Some others:

"Young Americans" in Dogville: Whether Grace left Dogville, or on the contrary Dogville had left her - and the world in general - is a question of a more artful nature that few would benefit from by asking, and even fewer by providing an answer. And nor indeed will it be answered here.

The cops walk by in Le boucher

"The Rhythm of the Night" in Beau travail

"The Weight" in Easy Rider

Theme songs in Beverly Hills Cop and The Great Escape

The use of Bob Dylan's music in I'm Not There

The centerpiece of Tropical Malady

baby doll

06-07-2009, 01:15 PM

"The Rhythm of the Night" in Beau travailSpeaking of the awesomeness of Denis Levant... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_ww1rDz4ZI&fmt=18)

Ezee E

06-07-2009, 02:19 PM

My favorite part in Observe & Report is when Seth Rogen's character has gone aggressive, beats up the fast food manager, then goes to Anna Faris and smashes the glass fixture. The buildup of drums (something Taxi Driver inspired) made me love those scenes.

It's not the best matching ever, but just a recent example.

thefourthwall

06-07-2009, 03:05 PM

One of the best uses of a song I've ever seen is actually from the episode "Tabula Rasa" (6.8) in Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Michelle Branch's "Goodbye to You" plays as Tara is packing to leave and Willow is crying on the bathroom floor because of her inability to control her addiction magic.

Boner M

06-07-2009, 03:30 PM

Speaking of the awesomeness of Denis Levant... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_ww1rDz4ZI&fmt=18)Rep! It seems that wherever Lavant goes, a fawesome music/image marriage will come with him.

The use of DK's "Holiday in Cambodia" in Carax's Boy Meets Girl is another instance of Lavant and music going hand in hand.

EDIT: While we're talking swoony French auteurs, I've gotta mention "This Time Tomorrow" in Garrel's Regular Lovers.

Idioteque Stalker

06-07-2009, 03:51 PM

Barry Lyndon - I don't know what it is, but the music playing in the scene where Barry first meets Lady Lyndon.

It's Franz Scubert's "Piano Trio in E flat Op. 100, D.929: Andante con moto."

Gorgeous piece, and used to great effect several times in that film--the balcony kiss is another example.

Milky Joe

06-07-2009, 10:04 PM

Ah, thank you. The balcony kiss is actually the scene I was referring to, as well as the card game leading up to it. Gives me chills.

Guess I need to go get some Schubert.

balmakboor

06-07-2009, 10:23 PM

Russ

06-07-2009, 10:52 PM

Truthfully, I would put just about every time Kubrick has set images to music on this list.

I also like Kenneth Anger in this respect. I'm thinking especially of Scorpio Rising and Kustom Kar Kommandos.

Definitely agree with both of these, and would add Philip Glass and the 'qatsi films to the mix.

I also think the destruction of the Ziggurat in Metropolis, set to Ray Charles' I Can't Stop Loving You, is worthy of inclusion.

megladon8

06-07-2009, 10:59 PM

Not really a classic moment, and honestly I found it more affecting in the television series' episode showing their early years together, but the use of The Carpenters' track "Close to You" in The Simpsons Movie really gets me.

Derek

06-07-2009, 11:38 PM

Janos examines the whale in Werckmeister Harmonies.

The final 10 minutes of Mann's Last of the Mohicans.

Jonny Greenwood's score (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxJ3jfT3ypc) when Plainview runs out after the explosion.

Most of Punch-Drunk Love.

Wagner in The New World.

The opening descent in Aguirre, the Wrath of God.

"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" to The Life of Brian.

The dual masturbation in L'Atalante.

The irony of the swelling music when Leith carries the wounded soldier to his death in Bitter Victory.

etc. etc.

Watashi

06-07-2009, 11:43 PM

The final 10 minutes of Mann's Last of the Mohicans.

The Win. Derek gots it.

Russ

06-07-2009, 11:43 PM

The opening descent in Aguirre, the Wrath of God.
Ooh, Popol Vuh. Nice.

dreamdead

06-08-2009, 12:04 AM

Definitely second Derek's choices of Last of the Mohicans and The New World. Amazing complements.

My selection would be Zimmer and The Thin Red Line (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAVlMs9FGL8), with "Journey to the Line."

Milky Joe

06-08-2009, 12:15 AM

Nashville - "It Don't Worry Me" sung by Barbara Harris over the ending sequence.

Russ

06-08-2009, 12:34 AM

Adagio in G minor, used very effectively at the end of Gallipoli.

megladon8

06-08-2009, 12:35 AM

Anything in The Fountain.

balmakboor

06-08-2009, 01:04 AM

"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" to The Life of Brian.

I loved that so much I bought the soundtrack album and then used it over the end credits for my first super-8 short film.

I thought of another incredible marriage of image and music -- this time of a diagetic kind. The banjo/guitar dual in Deliverance.

Pathétique

06-08-2009, 02:58 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=256NgMW4tQw&feature=related

...

BuffaloWilder

06-08-2009, 03:59 AM

"Somebody to Love" over Raoul Duke's visit to the Matrix club in Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas. Similarly, the song used during the flashback montage and race to the airport, at the end.

The "Bright Eyes" sequence from Watership Down.

"Inagaddadavida" (by I-Ron Butterfly) in Michael Mann's Manhunter.

Pick something from Happy Feet. Put it here.

Oh, yeah - "Partyman," set to Joker's destruction of the Flugelheim museum in Batman. Can't forget that.

Milky Joe

06-08-2009, 04:01 AM

Oh, yeah - "Partyman," set to Joker's destruction of the Flugelheim museum in Batman. Can't forget that.

Repped.

BuffaloWilder

06-08-2009, 04:10 AM

Repped.

Anyone who disagrees with me shall be destroyed.

http://cdn1.gamepro.com/article_img/gamepro/170568-17-1.jpg

chrisnu

06-08-2009, 04:27 AM

Schubert's String Quartet No. 15 in Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Michael Nyman's "Memorial" at the ending of The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover. Also, "Swan Rot", during the montages of various creatures doing just that.

Ivan Drago

06-08-2009, 04:31 AM

Amazing Grace in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan when Spock's body is shot into space

"In Dreams" by Roy Orbison in Blue Velvet when Hector lip-synchs to it

"Too Hot To Stop Pt. I" by The Bar-Kays in the opening credits to Superbad

The opera piece used in Raging Bull during the career montage

"Hearts On Fire" by John Cafferty in Rocky IV during the 2nd training montage

"Fight The Power" by Public Enemy in Do The Right Thing when Smiley pins the picture of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. to the burning restaurant wall

"Father Kolbe's Preaching" in The Truman Show when Truman crashes into the "sky"

The Contempt theme in the first scene of Contempt

"Ride of the Valkyries" in 8 1/2 during the revolt in the harem

Mahler's Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 in Timecode after the 2nd earthquake...specifically with the image of Salma Hayek's character behind the movie screen as the lights dim and the movie starts

Mozart's Lacrimosa at the end of Come and See

Staralfur by Sigur Ros in The Life Aquatic when Steve finds the shark

origami_mustache

06-08-2009, 12:43 PM

Sort of a cliché response, but "We'll meet Again" by Vera Lynn at the end of Dr. Strangelove is one of my favorite things ever.

Qrazy

06-08-2009, 02:21 PM

Speaking of typical responses... have to give props to the end of Rintaro's Metropolis... Ray Charles - I Can't Stop Loving You.

balmakboor

06-08-2009, 02:43 PM

I found the use of Lennon's Imagine at the end of The Killing Fields to be quite devastating at the time. I haven't seen the movie since 1984 though.

baby doll

06-09-2009, 12:47 AM

The use of Bob Dylan's music in I'm Not ThereIsn't that kind of a no brainer?

MacGuffin

06-09-2009, 12:48 AM

Isn't that kind of a no brainer?

Yes, but the thread does ask for "best" uses, not uses that are really good that we may have forgotten about.

baby doll

06-09-2009, 12:54 AM

Yes, but the thread does ask for "best" uses, not uses that are really good that we may have forgotten about.When I said a no brainer, I meant on the part of the filmmakers. Of course they're going to use music by Bob Dylan, because it's a film about him (sort of). Even when they use other peoples' music, like Nina Rota's theme from Roma, it's in the context of an homage to 8 1/2. Or with The Monkees' "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone," one of The Monkees is a character in the scene, and Michelle Williams walks into the room on the line, "When I met you, you didn't have no shoes. / Now you're walking around like you're front page news."

MacGuffin

06-09-2009, 12:56 AM

When I said a no brainer, I meant on the part of the filmmakers. Of course they're going to use music by Bob Dylan, because it's a film about him (sort of). Even when they use other peoples' music, like Nina Rota's theme from Roma, it's in the context of an homage to 8 1/2. Or with The Monkees' "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone," one of The Monkees is a character in the scene, and Michelle Williams walks into the room on the line, "When I met you, you didn't have no shoes. / Now you're walking around like you're front page news."

I see what you are saying, but regardless of whether or not it was a inevitable decision, I think the music was used appropriated in the movie (I think there was room for messing it up, but they only made the music better, and the songs made the movie better, in my opinion).

BuffaloWilder

06-09-2009, 01:05 AM

There's a collection of some of the ones I'd mentioned, minus the two from Fear and Loathing, up on the blog below.

For simplification's sake, the pick from Happy Feet was the scene featuring The Beach Boy's "Do It Again," just because.

Bosco B Thug

06-09-2009, 03:00 AM

Michael Nyman's "Memorial" at the ending of The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover. Also, "Swan Rot", during the montages of various creatures doing just that. This movie.

I don't recall exactly the cues you are referring to, but Greenaway just generally choreographs action to music so well. There's that one moment where Gambon takes Mirren by the hair and starts dragging her away as the music starts pounding away that is almost too dynamic for its own good.

chrisnu

06-09-2009, 05:37 AM

"Memorial" is played during the entire final scene of Cook/Thief. On the soundtrack, it's over 12 minutes long. I forgot to mention that "Swan Rot" is from A Zed and Two Noughts. It's the absolutely frenetic harpsichord with two violins.

Derek

06-09-2009, 05:40 AM

Oh jeez, I forgot about Bruce Conner. The entirety of Cosmic Ray and Breakaway for sure.

Benny Profane

06-10-2009, 01:46 PM

The second half of Layla by Derek and the Dominos in Goodfellas. I believe it kicks in when they find Frankie Carbone frozen solid in the meat locker.

Also, Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears in Donnie Darko is awesome.

megladon8

06-10-2009, 05:27 PM

balmakboor

06-10-2009, 06:15 PM

The use of Pink Floyd's Echoes during part one of Dog Star Man is sublime.

Russ

06-10-2009, 11:16 PM

In The Mood For Love[/B] - the Angkor Wat finale when Chan (right?) whispers into the tree

And also all those slo-mo interludes of Maggie Cheung in her tight-fitting cheongsam dresses set to Yumeji's Theme. As far as pure music and images go, that was downright Kubrick-esque.

Mara

06-11-2009, 01:54 PM

A couple of favorites, one from a greatly-beloved film, and one beautiful moment from a film that mostly baffled me:

"Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" from A Room with a View, before the storm, in the barley field.

"Close to You" from MirrorMask, when the main girl is transformed into her evil doppleganger.

Mara

06-11-2009, 01:59 PM

And the squeaky symphony in Delicatessen.

D_Davis

06-11-2009, 05:22 PM

And the squeaky symphony in Delicatessen.

Fantastic scene. Did this movie inspired you to play the saw?

Mara

06-11-2009, 05:41 PM

Fantastic scene. Did this movie inspired you to play the saw?

Why yes, it did!

I can play notes now. I can't control the notes I'm playing, but....

D_Davis

06-11-2009, 05:45 PM

Why yes, it did!

I can play notes now. I can't control the notes I'm playing, but....

I wanted to play the saw, too, after seeing this.

There was also a band we used to play with way back in the day that had a saw player; their rhythm section consisted of a tap dancer and a washboard player. They were very eclectic.

Pathétique

06-13-2009, 02:20 AM

The use of Pink Floyd's Echoes during part one of Dog Star Man is sublime.
I thought Dog Star Man was scored with John Cage's 4'33''.

balmakboor

06-13-2009, 04:26 AM

I thought Dog Star Man was scored with John Cage's 4'33''.

I remember parts being scored with Revolution 9. Ahhh, those were the days.

balmakboor

06-13-2009, 04:26 AM

I thought Dog Star Man was scored with John Cage's 4'33''.

:)

It's late. I just got the joke.

trotchky

06-13-2009, 10:22 PM

MacGuffin

06-13-2009, 10:25 PM

One more from Donnie Darko: "Under the Milkyway" at the Halloween party.

Man, I hate that song.

Ivan Drago

06-13-2009, 10:30 PM

The three note Soviet piano piece that plays consistently throughout Eyes Wide Shut (most notably when Cruise finds the mask on his bed).

Similarly, the nails-on-chalkboard minimalist tune that plays every time the mother is on screen in the first half of Visitor Q, and then morphs into some sort of triumphant orchestral arrangement.

One more from Donnie Darko: "Under the Milkyway" at the Halloween party.

I agree with the first one. But in the director's cut of Donnie Darko the song playing during the Halloween party is "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen. I personally thought that fit better.

trotchky

06-13-2009, 11:49 PM

I agree with the first one. But in the director's cut of Donnie Darko the song playing during the Halloween party is "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen. I personally thought that fit better.

I like them both, but I saw the original before the director's cut so I'm partial to that version.

However, moving "The Killing Moon" to the party meant removing it from the film's intro, which I hated. I found that to be a fantastic way to start the movie; with vague creepiness and mystery and a sense of impending doom. I don't remember what song replaced it but the affect was completely different.

MacGuffin

06-13-2009, 11:51 PM

I like them both, but I saw the original before the director's cut so I'm partial to that version.

However, moving "The Killing Moon" to the party meant removing it from the film's intro, which I hated. I found that to be a fantastic way to start the movie; with vague creepiness and mystery and a sense of impending doom. I don't remember what song replaced it but the affect was completely different.

Yeah, as much as I probably don't like that song either, it fits much better at the beginning. Really, the only good song in the entire movie is "Head Over Heels" and that montage is really the best part of the movie, in my opinion.

trotchky

06-14-2009, 12:03 AM

"Locomotion" - Inland Empire
Every Boris song in The Limits of Control
Sid Vicious' cover of "My Way" over Goodfellas' end credits
One more obvious one from The Royal Tenenbaums - Nico's "These Days" when Margot departs the bus in slow motion
Justin Timerblake lip-syncing to that The Killers song in Southland Tales

trotchky

06-14-2009, 12:07 AM

Beck's "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" over Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind's intro credits

Every single piece of music used in A Clockwork Orange as well as Malcolm McDowell singing and then later humming "Singin' in the Rain"

The song that plays over Bill's death scene in Kill Bill vol. 2

Ivan Drago

06-14-2009, 12:53 AM

One more obvious one from The Royal Tenenbaums - Nico's "These Days" when Margot departs the bus in slow motion

Reminds me:

Elliot Smith's "Needle In The Hay" when Richie cuts his hair and beard and attempts suicide

baby doll

06-14-2009, 01:33 AM

Reminds me:

Elliot Smith's "Needle In The Hay" when Richie cuts his hair and beard and attempts suicideReminds me:

"The White Lady Loves You More" in Paranoid Park when the boy walks down the hall.

Lucky

06-17-2009, 01:15 AM

I'm gonna throw in Diane Keaton singing "Seems Like Old Times" in Annie Hall. Isn't too touching the first time it appears in the movie, but it caps off the ending montage perfectly.

This thread is making me want to rewatch Donnie Darko. I haven't watched it in over four years, and I'm curious to see how it's going to hold up.