As Martin Scorsese once said, “Music and cinema fit together naturally. Because there’s a kind of intrinsic musicality to the way moving images work when they’re put together. It’s been said that cinema and music are very close as art forms, and I think that’s true.” Indeed, the right piece of music––whether it’s an original score or a carefully selected song––can do wonders for a sequence, and today we’re looking at the 20 films that best expressed that notion in 2023.
From seasoned composers to accomplished musicians, as well as a smattering of soundtracks, each perfectly transported us. Check out our rundown of the top 20, which includes streams to each soundtrack in full where available.
20. Infinity Pool (Tim Hecker)
19. Knock at the Cabin (Herdís Stefánsdóttir)
18. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Lorne Balfe)
17. Passages (Various Artists)
16. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Daniel Pemberton)
15. Master Gardener...
From seasoned composers to accomplished musicians, as well as a smattering of soundtracks, each perfectly transported us. Check out our rundown of the top 20, which includes streams to each soundtrack in full where available.
20. Infinity Pool (Tim Hecker)
19. Knock at the Cabin (Herdís Stefánsdóttir)
18. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Lorne Balfe)
17. Passages (Various Artists)
16. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Daniel Pemberton)
15. Master Gardener...
- 12/19/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
In The Sweet East, a high school senior take a journey through fame, exploitation, and Delaware. Working from a script co-written with the influential critic Nick Pinkerton, Sean Price Williams’ punky directorial debut boasts both the cinematographer’s signature aesthetic and Pinkerton’s idiosyncratic, roguish worldview. Premiering this week in Directors’ Fortnight, The Sweet East––seemingly taking cues from John Waters––is cinema at its most playfully facetious, infectiously puerile, and flagrantly transgressive, and an early highlight of a Cannes Film Festival that, near its midway point, has been somewhat short on provocation.
The Sweet East stars a brilliant Talia Ryder as the Californian Alice in Williams and Pinkerton’s dirty East Coast Wonderland. In her first lead role since breaking out in Never Rarely Sometimes Always, she plays Lillian (one of many nods to D.W. Griffith), a faux-ingénue with a knack for ending up in dicey situations and an...
The Sweet East stars a brilliant Talia Ryder as the Californian Alice in Williams and Pinkerton’s dirty East Coast Wonderland. In her first lead role since breaking out in Never Rarely Sometimes Always, she plays Lillian (one of many nods to D.W. Griffith), a faux-ingénue with a knack for ending up in dicey situations and an...
- 5/21/2023
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Impulsive, young, naïve — it’s common to speak of America in such terms. Even with almost 250 years under its belt, the country can’t compete with the centuries-long histories of other empires. Descriptions focus on flaws, unrealized visions and the broken promises of the oft-cited American Dream. Sean Price Williams is keenly aware of America’s reputation, and uses his beautiful but tedious directorial debut The Sweet East to find pride in it. Both satire and patriotic statement, the picaresque adventure of Lillian (Never Rarely Sometimes Always star Talia Ryder) paints a sardonic but ultimately uninteresting portrait of America and its cultish factions.
Like most protagonists of stories like this one, Lillian is listless and a bit unmoored. The film opens with an audio of the Pledge of Allegiance before cutting to a scene of post-coital bliss between Lillian and Troy (Jack Irv). Her character is one of few words.
Like most protagonists of stories like this one, Lillian is listless and a bit unmoored. The film opens with an audio of the Pledge of Allegiance before cutting to a scene of post-coital bliss between Lillian and Troy (Jack Irv). Her character is one of few words.
- 5/18/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A post-ironic picaresque born from a take-no-prisoners attitude so oppressive that it soon becomes its own kind of jail, Sean Price Williams’ “The Sweet East” amounts to something more than just a series of semi-connected trolls. But this sniveling little satire of modern American thought is never funnier or more sure of itself than when it makes you feel like an asshole for taking it too seriously.
Consider the film’s opening few minutes, which appear to tee up a lo-fi but legibly familiar sex comedy set on a high school trip to Washington, D.C., until things, uh, take a turn. We first meet Lillian as she lies in a hotel bed next to a blond mouth-breather who plays with his used condom like it’s a party balloon and brags about how he’s going to be a star. Later, after reuniting with the rest of her grade,...
Consider the film’s opening few minutes, which appear to tee up a lo-fi but legibly familiar sex comedy set on a high school trip to Washington, D.C., until things, uh, take a turn. We first meet Lillian as she lies in a hotel bed next to a blond mouth-breather who plays with his used condom like it’s a party balloon and brags about how he’s going to be a star. Later, after reuniting with the rest of her grade,...
- 5/18/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Michael M. Bilandic's Project Space 13 is exclusively showing on Mubi in many countries starting December 10, 2021 in the series The New Auteurs, as well as in the series Anarchy in NYC: Michael M. Bilandic's Streetwise Cinema. I remember seeing Dušan Makavejev’s The Coca-Cola Kid back in the spring of 2020 at Anthology Film Archives in downtown Manhattan. It’s a satirical indictment of unhinged imperialist soft drink distributors wreaking havoc in the Outback. It’s also a pretty dumb romantic comedy starring Eric Roberts in full 1980s yuppie mode. It’s my favorite type of film: humorous, absurdist, yet grappling with serious issues in an entertaining, devil-may-care manner. I had no idea at the time that it would be the last 35mm print I’d see in a theater for well over a year. After the screening a bunch of us went to a bar down the street. There...
- 12/10/2021
- MUBI
Michael Bilandic’s cinema has, over the course of four very small-scale features, staked out a distinct corner in indie film. Focusing on niche interests—be it the fledgling trance scene of 2009 or YouTube horrorcore rappers—the New York-based director’s films feel of the moment but never trend-chasing or too cool for the room. Simply put: a truly personal corpus.
His distinct style and interests are perfectly encapsulated in his newest work, Project Space 13, about Nate (Keith Poulson), a performance artist who sees his latest stunt involving bug-eating and other narcissistic, attention-grabbing shenanigans halted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Nate still has somewhat of an audience, though, as he’s protected by two assigned security guards at the performance space, one a young loose cannon (Hunter Zimny) and the other an older Covid-denier (Theodore Bouloukos). While outside riots escalate New York City into an apocalyptic state, the three men discuss their variety of differences.
His distinct style and interests are perfectly encapsulated in his newest work, Project Space 13, about Nate (Keith Poulson), a performance artist who sees his latest stunt involving bug-eating and other narcissistic, attention-grabbing shenanigans halted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Nate still has somewhat of an audience, though, as he’s protected by two assigned security guards at the performance space, one a young loose cannon (Hunter Zimny) and the other an older Covid-denier (Theodore Bouloukos). While outside riots escalate New York City into an apocalyptic state, the three men discuss their variety of differences.
- 12/2/2021
- by Ethan Vestby
- The Film Stage
Thirst Street, a sordid trauma study with a twist on fairy tale idealizations, denotes a significant departure from Silver’s unbound form to something more staged and mannered. As the fate of Silver’s characters come to question, and the fabled nature of fate itself does too, we endure a Silver tragedy at its most pre-designed.
From his usual outlines to a 25 page treatment, Thirst Street still maintains some of Silver's unscripted sensibilities. Dialogue was improvised. Shots were intuited on the day, guided by the atmosphere of a setting and the emotional necessities of a scene. Still it maintains a form, with a stylized beginning & end, and a more fluid, naturalistic, midsection.
Nathan details the use of these new formal elements, the ways which they apply thematically to Thirst Street, and their current and hoped for evolutions in his future work.
Thirst Street follows Gina (Lindsay Burge) an American flight attendant who,...
From his usual outlines to a 25 page treatment, Thirst Street still maintains some of Silver's unscripted sensibilities. Dialogue was improvised. Shots were intuited on the day, guided by the atmosphere of a setting and the emotional necessities of a scene. Still it maintains a form, with a stylized beginning & end, and a more fluid, naturalistic, midsection.
Nathan details the use of these new formal elements, the ways which they apply thematically to Thirst Street, and their current and hoped for evolutions in his future work.
Thirst Street follows Gina (Lindsay Burge) an American flight attendant who,...
- 8/21/2017
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Aaron Hunt)
- Cinelinx
As Martin Scorsese once said, “Music and cinema fit together naturally. Because there’s a kind of intrinsic musicality to the way moving images work when they’re put together. It’s been said that cinema and music are very close as art forms, and I think that’s true.” Indeed, the right piece of music — whether it’s an original score or a carefully selected song — can do wonders for a sequence, and today we’re looking at the 35 films that best expressed this notion this year.
From seasoned composers (e.g. Ennio Morricone, John Williams, Carter Burwell, and Michael Giacchino) to accomplished musicians (e.g. Jonny Greenwood and Johnny Jewel), as well as a smattering of soundtracks (e.g. Mistress America, Magic Mike Xxl, and Tangerine), each musical example perfectly transported us to the world of the film. (It’s worth noting that we would include Paul Grimstad...
From seasoned composers (e.g. Ennio Morricone, John Williams, Carter Burwell, and Michael Giacchino) to accomplished musicians (e.g. Jonny Greenwood and Johnny Jewel), as well as a smattering of soundtracks (e.g. Mistress America, Magic Mike Xxl, and Tangerine), each musical example perfectly transported us to the world of the film. (It’s worth noting that we would include Paul Grimstad...
- 12/28/2015
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
A Place on Earth: Silver’s Period Commune Channels Cinema-Verite
While his 2014 title Uncertain Terms still awaits theatrical release as it makes the rounds of the festival circuit after premiering last year at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the increasingly prolific Nathan Silver unveils his fifth feature. Stinking Heaven represents a change of pace stylistically and dramatically within Silver’s preferred parameters examining human beings tossed vicariously into strained living situations, where they often wear each other down to an inevitable breaking point. A period piece set within the confines of a well-meaning commune in early 90s suburban New Jersey, the grainy look and feel of Silver’s film lends it a vintage realism that aligns it with the cinema-verite styling of documentary filmmaker Allan King, whose films like Warrendale and A Married Couple focused, unobtrusively, on isolated groups or units of people in similar fashion.
Lucy (Deragh Campbell) and...
While his 2014 title Uncertain Terms still awaits theatrical release as it makes the rounds of the festival circuit after premiering last year at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the increasingly prolific Nathan Silver unveils his fifth feature. Stinking Heaven represents a change of pace stylistically and dramatically within Silver’s preferred parameters examining human beings tossed vicariously into strained living situations, where they often wear each other down to an inevitable breaking point. A period piece set within the confines of a well-meaning commune in early 90s suburban New Jersey, the grainy look and feel of Silver’s film lends it a vintage realism that aligns it with the cinema-verite styling of documentary filmmaker Allan King, whose films like Warrendale and A Married Couple focused, unobtrusively, on isolated groups or units of people in similar fashion.
Lucy (Deragh Campbell) and...
- 12/10/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Read More: Project of the Day: 'Stinking Heaven' After emerging with films like "Uncertain Terms" and "Soft in the Head," Nathan Silver is back with his fifth feature, "Stinking Heaven," a darkly comic period piece of 1990's suburbia that stages the fragility of a sober commune. "Stinking Heaven" tells the story of a married couple, Jim and Lucy, who run a haven of sorts in their New Jersey home for seven recovering addicts who sing, bathe and work together. When Ann, the 20-year-old ex-girlfriend of one of the housemates, arrives at the home, the harmony of the commune is thrown into disarray. With Ann's presence, tensions threaten to boil over and a downward spiral eventually sees several members relapse and fall into paranoia. In the trailer above, the motley members of the commune sing "Love Never Ends," but a creeping sense of turbulence descends with the arrival of...
- 11/19/2015
- by Tarek Shoukri
- Indiewire
Paul Grimstad is one of the most insanely inspired polymaths I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, and his brilliant lunacy bubbles from every song and piece of score he writes. He provided music for two short films which are about to screen in the New York Shorts Program at the 53rd New York Film Festival: my film Riot and Jay Giampietro’s Hernia. His other soundtracks include Frownland (which he also co-starred in), Heaven Knows What, Tired Moonlight, The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga, my film Stinking Heaven, among many others. Screening information for the New York Shorts Program can be found here. [iPod dictaphone app begins recording] Grimstad: Baudelaire […]...
- 9/25/2015
- by Nathan Silver
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Paul Grimstad is one of the most insanely inspired polymaths I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, and his brilliant lunacy bubbles from every song and piece of score he writes. He provided music for two short films which are about to screen in the New York Shorts Program at the 53rd New York Film Festival: my film Riot and Jay Giampietro’s Hernia. His other soundtracks include Frownland (which he also co-starred in), Heaven Knows What, Tired Moonlight, The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga, my film Stinking Heaven, among many others. Screening information for the New York Shorts Program can be found here. [iPod dictaphone app begins recording] Grimstad: Baudelaire […]...
- 9/25/2015
- by Nathan Silver
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Of Forest and Folklore: Oreck Lenses Extraordinary Essay on Eastern European Relationship with Land and Myth
Recently, Jessica Oreck has been settling into a more time sensitive short form with her ambitious etymology web series Mysteries of Vernacular, in which she unearths the surprising origins of the English language in two minute snippets. It’s understandable when you consider her densely layered latest feature, The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga, has been over five years in the making. The project began as an ethnographic exploration of Eastern European mushroom foragers in line with her beetle hunting debut Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo, but it’s since transformed into something much more mysteriously enigmatic. Oreck’s dreamy tale unfurls as a poetic travelogue of a timeless Slavic territory, its inhabitants still following long held traditions and bearing all the scars of the region’s tumultuous history. The abiding antiquity of her...
Recently, Jessica Oreck has been settling into a more time sensitive short form with her ambitious etymology web series Mysteries of Vernacular, in which she unearths the surprising origins of the English language in two minute snippets. It’s understandable when you consider her densely layered latest feature, The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga, has been over five years in the making. The project began as an ethnographic exploration of Eastern European mushroom foragers in line with her beetle hunting debut Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo, but it’s since transformed into something much more mysteriously enigmatic. Oreck’s dreamy tale unfurls as a poetic travelogue of a timeless Slavic territory, its inhabitants still following long held traditions and bearing all the scars of the region’s tumultuous history. The abiding antiquity of her...
- 5/12/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Predators (15)
(Nimród Antal, 2010, Us) Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Topher Grace, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo. 107 mins.
Twenty-three years and three sequels after the original, the sub-Alien sci-fi movie at last gets a proper follow-up, and even if Brody barely has the bulk to fill one of Schwarzenegger's combat boots, this serves up the semi-guilty action pleasures you'd demand. Brody is one of a gang of random human badasses who wind up in a strange jungle and realise they're now training material for apprentice alien badasses. So who will survive to be the, er, worst ass?
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (12A)
(David Slade, 2010, Us) Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner. 124 mins.
Another teen-conquering exercise in sexless erotica, but at least there's an actual film around it this time. A new vampire threat and Bella's love triangle won't be enough to entice newcomers, but fans will enjoy the unconsummated fantasy thrills they crave.
(Nimród Antal, 2010, Us) Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Topher Grace, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo. 107 mins.
Twenty-three years and three sequels after the original, the sub-Alien sci-fi movie at last gets a proper follow-up, and even if Brody barely has the bulk to fill one of Schwarzenegger's combat boots, this serves up the semi-guilty action pleasures you'd demand. Brody is one of a gang of random human badasses who wind up in a strange jungle and realise they're now training material for apprentice alien badasses. So who will survive to be the, er, worst ass?
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (12A)
(David Slade, 2010, Us) Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner. 124 mins.
Another teen-conquering exercise in sexless erotica, but at least there's an actual film around it this time. A new vampire threat and Bella's love triangle won't be enough to entice newcomers, but fans will enjoy the unconsummated fantasy thrills they crave.
- 7/9/2010
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
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