Moonrise Kingdom (score)

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Moonrise Kingdom (Original Score)
Film score by
Alexandre Desplat and Mark Mothersbaugh
ReleasedJune 19, 2012
Genre
Length18:40
LabelABKCO
Producer
Wes Anderson film score chronology
Fantastic Mr. Fox
(2009) 		Moonrise Kingdom
(2012) 		The Grand Budapest Hotel
(2014)
Alexandre Desplat film score chronology
A Therapy
(2012) 		Moonrise Kingdom
(2012) 		Argo
(2012)
Mark Mothersbaugh film score chronology
What to Expect When You're Expecting
(2012) 		Moonrise Kingdom
(2012) 		Hotel Transylvania
(2012)

Moonrise Kingdom (Original Score) is the accompanying score album for the identically named 2012 coming-of-age comedy-drama film released on June 19, 2012 through ABKCO Records. The score album featured six tracks, including five themes from the soundtrack composed by Alexandre Desplat and one theme by Mark Mothersbaugh, who scored for Anderson's early films. Irrespective of being released along with the soundtrack on May 2012, the score album was separately released, in order to be shortlisted for nominations at award ceremonies,[1] including Academy Awards, which was rejected due to the inspiration of classical music from Benjamin Britten's compositions.

Development[edit]

The film marked Alexandre Desplat's second collaboration with Wes Anderson after the stop-motion animated film Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009).[2] Mark Mothersbaugh, who composed for Anderson's early films had worked on one of themes.[3][4] Mothersbaugh contributed to the percussion instruments for the film score.[5]

Desplat said that "Music is never inherently funny! For me, comic scores always have to have some melancholy in the background. But for Moonrise Kingdom, I was trying more to embrace the world of fantasy of those two adolescents, and capture their sense of adventure and purity."[6] He wrote a seven-minute suite entitled "The Heroic Weather Conditions of the Universe"; describing the title Anderson had said that "it is possible we went too far with the title—we thought it might make it sound more epic".[6] He recalled in a 2015 interview to Vulture, on the motivation of the music, as while building the instrumentation of the suite, orchestra and choir, the score "gave the sensation where we were following the path of the two children. We follow them but they have their own space [...] They connect with their childhood to the music, but they’re now heading towards their freedom. There was this sensation of freedom that was the goal, giving an excitation. Like when you’re 11 or 12 and you go to camp with friends in the summer, there’s the expectation that there will be adventure and fun and that you’ll meet new friends and maybe make a new love. That was exactly what we were trying to achieve with the music, and I think we achieved it quite well."[7]

Desplat recorded the film score by January 2012. Since most of the film score has been recorded, the orchestra was disassembled, as he did not supervise the orchestra. Anderson had said "We can't oversee a whole orchestra. If Alexandre [Desplat] was there he would lead an orchestra all at once, but for us we could just do it one part at a time in order to try to get it right".[8] The seven-minute score was split into five pieces, to "fit different moods of the picture" and was surprised at the film's premiere in Cannes, on how the score was edited and assembled with Britten's music, and felt moved with the use of the "Cuckoo Chorus" in climax.[9]

Track listing[edit]

All tracks are written by Alexandre Desplat, except where noted

No.TitleLength
1."The Heroic Weather-Conditions of the Universe, Part 1: A Veiled Mist"03:16
2."The Heroic Weather-Conditions of the Universe, Part 2: Smoke/Fire"02:53
3."The Heroic Weather-Conditions of the Universe, Part 3: The Salt Air"01:38
4."Camp Ivanhoe Cadence Medley" (written by Mark Mothersbaugh; performed by Peter Jarvis and His Drum Corps)01:36
5."The Heroic Weather-Conditions of the Universe, Part 4-6: Thunder, Lightning and Rain"05:00
6."The Heroic Weather-Conditions of the Universe, Part 7: After The Storm"03:55
Total length:18:40

Reception[edit]

Faded Glamour wrote "Desplat’s compositions are magical, whimsical pieces that are exciting and joyous and dramatic, sometimes all at once. They complete Anderson’s world beautifully."[10] Jonathan Broxton wrote "the music for Moonrise Kingdom is certainly creative in its makeup, and mirrors the off-kilter nature of the film itself, I found myself completely unable to engage with Desplat’s music on an emotional level; it’s music that’s just “there” – pretty, light, lively, but never really going much beyond the bare bones in terms of what it provides the listener. In many ways, it’s a perfect reflection of Anderson’s directorial and screenwriting sensibility: it stays detached from the audience, instead being content to present a few light-hearted vignettes that either connect with the audience, or don’t. There’s no middle ground."[11] Mint's Sanjukta Sharma called the music as "scintillating",[12] while The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy and Collider's Adam Chitwood called the score and "excellent" and "wonderfully bright".[13][14] Calling it as one of the "best film scores of 2012", IndieWire stated "Desplat's score fits perfectly, despite featuring in brief".[15] IndieWire,[16] and Collider[17] also called it as one of the "decade's best film score".

Accolades[edit]

Moonrise Kingdom was not eligible to be nominated for Best Original Score at the 85th Academy Awards,[18] due to the Desplat's use of Benjamin Britten's music in the score.[18]

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
Broadcast Film Critics Association January 10, 2013 Best Composer Alexandre Desplat Nominated [19]
Chicago Film Critics Association December 17, 2012 Best Original Score Nominated [20]
IndieWire Critics Poll December 18, 2012 Best Original Score/Soundtrack 4th place [21]
International Cinephile Society February 11, 2013 Best Original Score Nominated [22]
[23]
International Film Music Critics Association February 21, 2013 Best Original Score for a Comedy Film Nominated [24]
San Diego Film Critics Society December 11, 2012 Best Score Nominated [25]
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association December 10, 2012 Best Score Nominated [26]
World Soundtrack Awards October 20, 2012 Soundtrack Composer of the Year Nominated [27]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Moonrise Kingdom (Original Score), January 1, 2012, retrieved July 6, 2022
  2. ^ Feinberg, Scott (December 25, 2012). "Wes Anderson on His Life, Career and Biggest Success Yet, 'Moonrise Kingdom' (Q&A)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  3. ^ Weintraub, Steve (January 10, 2012). "Alexandre Desplat Talks EXTREMELY LOUD, HARRY POTTER, MOONRISE KINGDOM, More". Collider. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  4. ^ Taylor, Drew (January 10, 2013). "Composer Alexandre Desplat Talks Scoring 'Zero Dark Thirty,' Working With Terrence Malick, Wes Anderson & More". IndieWire. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  5. ^ Davis, Edward (April 11, 2012). "'Moonrise Kingdom' Soundtrack Features Françoise Hardy, Hank Williams & The Partial Return of Mark Mothersbaugh". IndieWire. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Goodman, Lanie (May 17, 2012). "The Fantastic Monsieur Desplat". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  7. ^ Ivie, Devon. "Alexandre Desplat Tells the Stories Behind 5 of His Film Scores, From Harry Potter to Wes Anderson's World". Vulture. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  8. ^ Lussier, Germain (June 7, 2012). "/Film Interview: Wes Anderson Talks About 'Moonrise Kingdom's' Themes, End Credits, His Dark Next Movie, Fan Art And More". SlashFilm.com. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  9. ^ "Interview: Alexandre Desplat on Composing for "Argo" & "Zero Dark Thirty" - Blog - The Film Experience". thefilmexperience.net. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  10. ^ FG. "Album Review: Moonrise Kingdom (Original Soundtrack)". Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  11. ^ "MOONRISE KINGDOM – Alexandre Desplat". MOVIE MUSIC UK. July 16, 2012. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  12. ^ Sharma, Sanjukta (September 20, 2012). "Film Review | Moonrise Kingdom". mint. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  13. ^ McCarthy, Todd (May 16, 2012). "Moonrise Kingdom: Cannes Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  14. ^ Chitwood, Adam (October 27, 2012). "MOONRISE KINGDOM Blu-ray Review". Collider. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  15. ^ The Playlist Staff (December 14, 2012). "The Best Film Soundtracks & Scores Of 2012". IndieWire. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  16. ^ Nordine, Michael; Ehrlich, David; Erbland, Kate; O'Falt, Chris (July 26, 2019). "The 20 Best Movie Scores of the Decade". IndieWire. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  17. ^ Chitwood, Adam (September 28, 2020). "The Best Film Scores of the 2010s, Ranked". Collider. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  18. ^ a b Molnar, James A. "Oscars 2013: 104 Original Scores in the race". The Gold Knight. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  19. ^ Lyttelton, Oliver (December 11, 2012). "Basically Every Movie Nominated In BFCA Critics Choice Awards Lineup; 'Lincoln' Leads Field". IndieWire. Archived from the original on May 12, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  20. ^ Knegt, Peter (December 17, 2012). "'Zero Dark Thirty' Tops Chicago Film Critics Awards". IndieWire. Archived from the original on August 8, 2017. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  21. ^ Singer, Matt (December 18, 2012). "Indiewire's Critics Poll Names 'Holy Motors' the Best Film of 2012". IndieWire. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  22. ^ Stevens, Beth (February 11, 2013). "2013 ICS Award Winners". International Cinephile Society. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  23. ^ Stevens, Beth (January 17, 2013). "2013 ICS Award Nominees". International Cinephile Society. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  24. ^ IFMCA (2013). "2012 IFMCA Awards". IFMCA. IFMCA. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  25. ^ "San Diego Film Critics Nominate Top Films for 2012". San Diego Film Critics Society. December 9, 2012. Archived from the original on December 12, 2012. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
  26. ^ Knegt, Peter (December 9, 2012). "Washington Film Critics Go For 'Zero Dark Thirty,' Day-Lewis, Chastain". IndieWire. Archived from the original on April 23, 2018. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  27. ^ "World Soundtrack Awards Announces 2012 Nominees". World Soundtrack Academy. Flanders International Film Festival. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on January 10, 2013. Retrieved December 11, 2012.
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