Films on the Mind

Update: This was originally posted around the same time last year, and to this day it remains one of my all-time favorites posts that i’ve done for this blog. I’ve had many requests to re-upload the mp3s, since they weren’t up for a significant amount of time – due to the site getting shut down from an overwhelming amount of traffic. I’m also putting this back up because i’m currently working on the long overdue second edition of ‘Films on the Mind’; though, i’ve currently hit a wall and figured i’d open this up to our readers. What i’m asking is if you would like to contribute to this, email me with your favorite music in film moment, and i’ll compile the best choices – along with my own – to post at some point in the upcoming weeks. If possible, a mp3 to accompany your choice would be excellent. Looking forward to hearing from you!

First off I want to say that this has been in the works (well in my head) for almost six months, but i’ve never had the time to just sit down and think about what I wanted to include. I make no secret about my love for film here on the site, as it’s almost equal to my love of music. The connection I find between films and music is simple. It’s that one scene and that one song that if they’re both put to use correctly, than it can set that mood perfectly without there even being any kind of a hint as to what’s going on. You hear a song during a scene and if it has any kind of emotional impact, well you’ll remember both for that one moment forever.

Last year found a multitude of great film soundtracks (Marie Antoinette, Little Miss Sunshine and Stranger than Fiction to name a few) released. it’s nice to have such refreshing takes from the typical movie soundtrack. I can’t stand when movies are stocked full of whatever is popular in music at that moment, as it can hamper a film. It makes it connected to that period in time, to where it doesn’t age well. But if you were to truly put some care into what kind of music you want to represent your film than it could create something that is timeless and memorable like directors Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino and Cameron Crowe films.

The following list is nowhere near anything complete or absolute, but it’s a nice representation of some memorable scenes from recent films that had some emotional impact to me. A few I can connect with on a personal level, but some as you notice are just fun scenes that stood out in my mind when I was sitting at my desk thinking throughout the entire weekend. I tried to avoid film scores as much as possible and concentrated on songs that were not based on the films themselves. Hope you enjoy these, and i’d love to make another list with choices that all of you come up with. Click the continue link to see the entire list!

The Film: Almost Famous
The Song: “Tiny Dancer” | Elton John
The Scene: [video] This scene gets a lot of play as one of the most memorable, but really it’s just watching it gives you an honest to goodness feeling inside every time you see it. The film is a story based off the real experience of director Cameron Crowe as we follow a 15 year old rock fan in 1973 who gets to go on tour with an up and coming band as an assignment for Rolling Stone magazine. The moment is on a tour bus as emotions throughout are down and stress levels are high, but as “Tiny Dancers” comes on the radio, the mood changes and everyone comes together in a group sing-along. There you have a moment in cinema history that perfectly captures something that all of us can relate to in some manner.

The Film: American Psycho
The Song: “Hip To Be Square” | Huey Lewis
The Scene: [video] I remember this film well just for the fact it’s the only one that managed to make me walk out of a theater before it finished. That was almost six or seven years ago, and I think it was a bit much for me at the time. I’ve watched it many times completely since then, and I still don’t know how that film got made really. There are several classic moments in this film, but one that stands out is a sequence where Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is in his apartment with work buddy Paul Allen (Jared Leto) and goes off about Huey Lewis and the News before landing a well-placed axe shot to the face of our 30 Seconds to Mars buddy Mr. Leto. It’s pretty gruesome but at the same time kind of horrifyingly hilarious.

The Film: Before Sunset
The Song: “Just in Time” | Nina Simone
The Scene: [video] In a sort of sequel to one of my favorite films Before Sunrise, this is set nine years after the promise made by Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) to meet each other six months later in Vienna after their one night together. I won’t spoil what happened, but it’s pretty obvious what happened. The following scene comes after two just downright great moments with two in a car and afterwards where Celine played her “Waltz” to Jesse. After watching the two spill their guts out to each other, you just can’t help but want these two to be together although their circumstances would make such a thing impossible. What you have with the very last scene, is probably one of my favorite endings to a film ever as Celine dances to Nina Simone’s “Just in Time” and turns to Jesse and says “Baby, you are gonna miss that plane.”….well his answer just puts this big smile on my face every time i watch it.

The Film: Blue Velvet
The Song: “In Dreams” | Roy Orbison
The Scene: [video] I really have no business liking Blue Velvet, or any David Lynch films for that matter. From Mulholland Dr. to Lost Highway, films that make my head want to explode. Not that Blue Velvet is that kind of film, but what you witness from the moment Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) discovers the severed ear is a film that let’s say not everyone will really enjoy. The most memorable scene has to be where we have a confrontation between Jeffrey and the sex-crazed psycho Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper). A sequence that revolves around Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” being lip-synched by Dean Stockwell and some of the most vulgar dialogue i’ve ever heard (“You receive a love letter from me…you’re fucked forever!“) from Dennis Hopper. You really just have to watch it to see where i’m coming from.

The Film: Donnie Darko
The Song: “Notorious” | Duran Duran
The Scene: [video] There are a lot of great music-in-movie moments scattered throughout Donnie Darko. From the opening scene with “The Killing Moon” by Echo and The Bunnymen to the scene at school that plays to “Head Over Heals” by Tears for Fears you just have a great overall soundtrack that wasn’t even officially released in the first place. I had a tough time deciding what to choose but the Sparkle Motion dance sequence just stood out in my mind and with “Notorious” being played over it just really just makes you cringe thinking that little girls do this sort of thing.

The Film: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Song: “Phone Call” | Jon Brion
The Scene: [video] First off, I know that this is technically a part of the film’s score but this is one of my favorite films of the past decade so I can’t just leave this out like a piece of bologne. I just have to mention it because it’s just so honest about relationships that everyone can take something from this film that is relatable. Anyways, the scene involves our two main characters Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslete) after a very uncomfortable night together in Clementine’s apartment. After a few drinks and things start to get more interesting, Joel decides to leave before getting Clementine’s number. As he leaves to walk to his car, she opens the window and screams for him to wish her a happy Valentine’s Day. It’s just a sweet moment between the two and this small piece of music from Jon Brion begins to play as we than watch Joel nervously call Clementine as he gets home. Something i’m sure we’ve all been through at some point in our lives.

The Film: Fight Club
The Song: “Where is My Mind?” | The Pixies
The Scene: [video] I’m really getting tired of writing these descriptions so I think i’m going to start shortening them up because I just want to finish this. Anyways, after our lead character played by Edward Norton shoots himself in the face (yes) in order to get rid of his alter-ego played by Brad Pitt – we’re seen with him and his female companion as he grabs her hand and we watch them view a scene of the cities buildings crumble before them. A great scene, made the better by The Pixies track “Where is my Mind?”

The Film: High Fidelity
The Song: “Dry The Rain” | The Beta Band
The Scene: [video] This is a film that every music lover has probably seen already, but this scene involves a moment where Rob Gordon (John Cusack) decides that he’s going to sell a few copies of The Three EPs by The Beta Band. The song plays and a customer hears it and starts to get into the song before asking “Who is this?” The Beta Band. “It’s good.” I know.

The Film: Kill Bill Vol. 1
The Song: “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” | Nancy Sinatra
The Scene: [video] In the opening sequence where we see the bloodied bride played by Uma Thurman, we have an exchange between her and mentor/former lover Bill (David Carradine) that results in the bride receiving a not too kind bullet to the head before segueing into the opening titles where we hear the Nancy Sinatra track that’s so expertly placed by Quentin Tarrentino that fits the following sequence perfectly.

The Film: The Life Aquatic
The Song: “Staralfur” | Sigur Ros
The Scene: [video] Towards the very end of the film we have the entire cast inside a submarine – minus Owen Wilson who had just previously been killed – as they come across the shark that killed the partner of Steve Zissou (Bill Murray). In a very poignant moment he says “I wonder if it remembers me?” as “Staralfur” plays during this and just stands out as such a great scene in my opinion.

The Film: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
The Song: “Liar Liar” | Castaways
The Scene: [video] Considered the UK equivalent of Quentin Tarantino, director Guy Ritchie’s film involving a high stakes card game gone wrong. Like Tarantino, the film has an excellent soundtrack as the tracks are well-placed throughout. One scene in particular involves a game of three card brag. it’s very simple with rotating camera views, slow-mo and quick shots but the use of the Castaways track just makes this an awesome scene that would otherwise seem pretty dull.

The Film: Lost in Translation
The Song: “Just Like Honey” | The Jesus & Mary Chain
The Scene: [video] In the closing moments of the film, we have the a final encounter between Bob (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) as they sadly speak to each other for what seems to be the last time in the crowded streets of Tokyo. In a nice, sleek little move by director Sofia Coppola, we don’t hear the exchange between the two as all we see is Charlotte’s facial expression as she sheds a tear over Bob’s shoulder. It’s a very touching moment, and made even more so with the use of “Just Like Honey” right after they part ways. For most it’s the first time they ever heard Jesus & Mary Chain, but really what better way to be introduced to this amazing band then at that very moment.

The Film: Ocean’s Twelve
The Song: “The a la menthe” | Nikkfurie
The Scene: [video] This scene doesn’t really have any significance besides the fact that it’s just a ridiculous scene involving a thief (Vincent Cassel) doing Capoeira through some lasers. Seriously, that’s it. The song just took me forever to find because it’s not on the actual soundtrack….and it’s good. So basically lasers + Capoeira = $$$.

The Film: Punch-Drunk Love
The Song: “He Needs Me” | Shelly Duvall
The Scene: [video] In a very uplifting moment of the film, Barry (Adam Sandler) draws his courage to stand up to one of his sisters whom he constantly receives shit from. It’s a moment of liberation, the point at which he would no longer put up with it anymore, he basically let’s everything out on the phone because he wants the number of mutual friend that he’d been seeing. From that moment on, the track from Shelly Duvall plays through a wonderful sequence where he flies to Hawaii to see the one important woman in his life.

The Film: Reservoir Dogs
The Song: “Stuck in the Middle With You” | Stealers Wheel
The Scene: [video] This is just a prime example of hearing a song during a scene and it forever being associated with that moment. Everytime I listen to it I just cringe because I think about that moment between Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsden) and his torturing of his little police officer buddy. The result is the cutting of the aforementioned polcie officer’s ear and later being doused with gasoline all of this happening while Mr. Blonde dances along to “Stuck in the MIddle With You”. What’s great about that scene is that you don’t really see the actual cutting of the ear happening as it happens off-screen. In my opinion it makes the scene that much more effective as you sit there imagining how it’s taking place.

The Film: Shaun of the Dead
The Song: “Don’t Stop Me Now” | Queen
The Scene: [video] Considered a cult classic by many since it’s release, the film by Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. It’s one that I absolutely love despite my unhealthy fear for all things zombie as it was still horror-ish while still being hilarious. A great scene here involves our heroes dispatching the zombie Bernie the Bartender with pool sticks in sync with a juke box playing Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now”. It’s a great little sequence that results in the the juke box getting destroyed by tossing the zombie’s head into the machine.

The Film: Snatch
The Song: “***kin’ In The Bushes” | Oasis
The Scene: [video] This takes place during a really well-filmed fight scene involving Mickey (Brad Pitt) in a bare-knuckle street fight. It’s a very high-stakes match as lives are on the line if Mickey doesn’t go down in the fourth round like he’s supposed to. Though we all know that throughout the whole film he’s ignored the rules set before him and proceeded to knock the ever-living fuck out of everyone in the ring. You could really go with this track by Oasis that starts in the beginning of the fight or the track by Massive Attack that starts as soon as he knocks the guy out in the ring. Either way, great scene and music.

The Film: The Royal Tenenbaums
The Song: “These Days” | Nico
The Scene: [video] This is one of those scenes that you see and you just think to yourself that this is just perfect. No dialogue is needed as the moment you see Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) slowly get off the bus and “These Days” start to play, you just can’t find a better music-in-film moment. Perfect! Another great scene involves a very dark moment where Ritchie Tenenbaum (Luke WIlson) attempts to committ suicide and “Needle in the Hay” by Elliott Smith plays during it. A very chilling moment that should also be mentioned from this wonderful film.

The Film: Trainspotting
The Song: “Lust for Life” | Iggy Pop
The Scene: [video] This can be heard in the first first scene of Danny Boyle’s film that gave us filthy toilet diving and a look into the lives of heroin addicts as this track plays during the memorable “Choose Life” monologue by Renton (Ewan McGregor). Ok, i’m really tired of typing..

Additional posts you may be interested in:

Sonic Sum – Films

I would rather not know…

The Helio Sequence :: “Keep Your Eyes Ahead”

Once :: A Review

Films on the Mind | Wes Anderson Edition

Tags: film, Films on the Mind

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 6:35 pm and is filed under Films, Random, The Yellow Stereo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.