Thursday Token Themes

Welcome a new weekly feature here at Movies With Abe. I’m a hugely enthusiastic fan of film scores, and music is far too often an element of cinema that goes unrecognized. Therefore I present a platform for a look – or rather, a listen – to some fantastic film scores. I’ll be selecting a composer and one or more of their film scores for your listening pleasure, embedded from YouTube.

This week’s featured composer is Max Richter. This is one of those cases where one score captivated me so much that it was enough to feature him just for that. Upon further research, however, I found that the German-born composer has also created memorable music for two other films that I’ve seen. The first is “Shutter Island,” in which his gorgeous “On the Nature of Daylight” serves as a reminder that this film wasn’t all about foghorns. The second is “When We Leave,” the underseen German Oscar contender for Best Foreign Film from last year. Richter specializes in melodic, melancholy scores that are simply beautiful. “The Haunted Ocean,” from 2008’s best film, “Waltz with Bashir” is one of my absolute favorite pieces of music. Part of it has to do with the hypnotic beauty mixed with horror happening on screen while it’s played, but that moment is only so effective due to the incredible passion of the score. I could say more about how much I love this piece, but in this case, my words can’t capture it. Listen for yourself!

Shutter Island (2010)



When We Leave (2011)



Waltz With Bashir (2008)