Oppenheimer

Ludwig Goranssons at times celestial, sometimes mechanical, sometimes melancholy, and often unsettling synthesizer-injected orchestral score for Christopher Nolans Atomic Age biopic Oppenheimer is inescapable in a film that, at least as one point, has nothing short of the Earths atmosphere on the line. Clocking in at 94 minutes in all (though it should be noted that the movies runtime is 180), the scores more urgent moments include the booming "Manhattan Project," with its pulsing metallic tones, echoey piano, and ascending and descending string progressions; the relentless sixteenth-note violin attack of "Fusion"; and, later, the marching "Kitty Comes to Testify," as the film turns from science epic toward political thriller. While much of the score is repetitive -- in a deliberate, minimalist way, not in a recycled sense -- more attention-grabbing, experimental moments include the ominous, percussive "Atmospheric Ignition" and the throbbing, noise- and effects-based "Ground Zero." There are rousing orchestral passages here, too, such as the early-arriving "Can You Hear the Music," a track reportedly modeled after Stravinsky that introduces a hexatonic scale that forms the basis of the main characters leitmotif. (That cue was also a technical feat to record, with its 21 tempo changes in less than two minutes.) The score also includes traditionally suspenseful ("The Trial") and sentimental moments ("A Lowly Shoe Salesman"), among others. If anything, Goransson can be accused of overindulging on such an ambitious project, well before he could be said to be mailing it in. Academy voters approved: Oppenheimer won Goransson his second Oscar for Best Original Score (after Black Panther), to add to his Grammy and Golden Globe for the film. ~ Marcy Donelson