Glasgow Film Festival – The Fall of the House of Usher with Live Score

The Glasgow Film Festival is showing some great films and hosting some very interesting events this year. One part of the programme that caught my eye, in particular, is the ‘Sound & Vision’ section. On Sunday 22nd February at the Pollokshaws Burgh Hall, a live orchestra will perform alongside the 1928 silent film adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’.

Here is the description provided on the Glasgow Film Festival website:

“Based on Edgar Allan Poe’s jet-black short story, this 1928 film by French silent master Jean Epstein is the first true Gothic horror and an iconic visual masterpiece exploring the beauty and tension of life, love, and death. An ethereal new live score by composer Irene Buckley, featuring organ, electronics and live vocals, will be performed using the original Wurlitzer Cinema Organ in the historic, appropriate setting of Pollokshaws Burgh Hall. Buckley created the live soprano soundtrack to The Passion of Joan of Arc, which Glasgow Film Festival screened inside Glasgow Cathedral in 2013; the festival is delighted to welcome her back.

‘Some silent films hold you outside: You admire them, but are aware of them as a phenomenon. With The Fall of the House of Usher, I barely stirred. A tone, an atmosphere, was created that actually worked…less a fiction than the realization of some phantasmagoric alternative reality.’ – Roger Ebert”

Tickets cost £12 full price / £10 concession

You can purchase tickets here.

Quentin Tarantino in Numbers – Infographic

As I’m already starting to get excited about Tarantino’s next film ‘the Hateful Eight’, scheduled for a summer 2015 release, I made this Infographic about Quentin Tarantino’s films in numbers.

I know its not about soundtracks, but I wanted to share it anyway!

TFDJ

Zane Lowe’s Re-Scored Drive Soundtrack

Anyone that has seen the 2011 film, Drive, will remember its smooth 80s-synth style soundtrack, making the already cool Ryan Gosling just that little bit cooler. With Cliff Martinez creating the score and Kavinsky and the Chromatics providing some tracks, the Drive soundtrack is undeniably impressive.

It was recently announced that Zane Lowe, BBC Radio 1 DJ, is curating a new soundtrack, paying homage to the spectacular 2011 film. It will feature many artists including Chvrches, SBTRKT and Eric Prydz. The soundtrack is even being shown with the film on BBC Three at the end of this month.

As someone who loves soundtracks and reworks, I, personally, think this is a really awesome idea – contrary to a number of tweets branding the innovative re-scoring as “pointless” or “the worst idea…ever” (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/11177029/Zane-Lowe-defends-BBC-decision-to-let-him-re-score-Drive.html) – this remade soundtrack isn’t really hurting anyone. It’ll be extremely interesting to see the finished product; who performs what and whether it changes or adds to the film in anyway.

The film’s director Nicolas Winding Refn has stated that he “consider[s] it a great honour that [his] movie Drive inspired so many wonderful artists to come together and create one ultra-cool glam experience.”

One track by Chvrches – ‘Get Away’ – has already been released; you can listen to it here:

The film with this new soundtrack will be shown on BBC Three on October 30^th at 10pm. I will write a follow-up post with my opinion on it afterwards.

TFDJ