Music/Film collaborations

This is a big question. I'm both drawn to and repelled by the constant use of non-sourced pop music on contemporary Hollywood soundtracks. It can be used boldly and interestingly, although the pop-music-as-ironic-commentary has become pretty old by this point (as old as Kenneth Anger), and even Scorsese (who really popularized the trope) makes hash of it in Bringing Out the Dead. The filmmakers who use pop music best are typically the ones who use it sparingly--the aforementioned Hartley (Sonic Youth in Simple Men, say) or Todd Haynes or Claire Denis. That doesn't explain Spike Lee though.

I'm interested in the question of whether audiences could accept a musical that wasn't a selfconscious anachronism (a la Chicago)--or if such a thing is even possible. Weren't film musicals always a little something of an anachronism?

Regarding the music: Again, I let myself be led by the actual materials I was working with. I have a painter friend, Ellen, who describes sitting and observing a canvas and the paints for days, getting to understand them, before deciding what to paint. I like that. PJ, Ben Watt, Georgia and Ira (Yo La Tengo), David Byrne... they had all contributed these pieces of music and, to the extent that I could, I let the music effect the writing. Of course, it effected my directing more.

The effect of this: a series of pop songs weaved together to become something like a real "score." And yet, everyone seemed to hate The Book of Life. I understand Hartley-hate, because I was once in that camp, but it seems rather silly now, speaking from the other side. His films, even those that are less successful, are so generous to the audience.

I'm not sure exactly what Nordicskillz is asking for. As for bands playing in front of films, I take it he means silent films. I have mixed feelings about this. On Saturday I saw He Who Gets Slapped and the accompaniment was by an ensemble of Northwestern undergraduates led by a professor. It was heavy on electronic soundscapes and effects. It was a genuine, sincere effort (not like some of noodling, indifferent "scores" I've seen performed by sundry post-rock bands around town) but still, I'm not sure it did the film any favors. Though not as bad as the times I've seen the Alloy Orchestra perform to Metropolis or Harold Lloyd films.

What actually kind of annoys me is scores to movies that aren't silent, like Philip Glass's Dracula.