A Personal Reflection on the 2023 Oscars Best Score Category

While the Best Song category at the Oscars this year had an absolute triumph, with song “Nattu Nattu” winning from the movie RRR, the Best Score category seemed to fall flat in comparison to the star-studded night. In a night full of feel-good victories, this category seemed to be left behind- although it was one of the most stacked categories of the night. With a groundbreaking nomination, John Williams became the oldest person ever to be nominated for an Oscar at 91. With only 5 victories out of his 53 nominations, the fact that the renowned composer lost to a movie called All Quiet on the Western Front, causes one to question the selection process of this year’s winner. When stacked against competitors Justin Hurwitz (Whiplash, La La Land) for Babylon, Son Lux for Everything Everywhere All At Once, Carter Burwell for The Banshees of Inisherin, and John Williams for The Fabelmans, how did Volker Bertelmann win the Best Score category for All Quiet on the Western Front? Through this article, I will be exploring the five different scores nominated for Best Score this year, and give my opinions on each of the scores, who should’ve won, and the general consensus on who should’ve taken the category. 

Looking at the Academy Award winner first, Volker Bertelmann’s work on All Quiet on the Western Front is a violin and orchestral-heavy score that seems to strike the same note as many recent war films. While the work is exceptional, my favorite piece being “Bomb Crater”, I found myself not seeing what brought it above the other scores that were nominated alongside it. Bertelmann’s work is great, bringing the heavy weight of what the front lines were like in World War I, but nothing beyond what others this year brought to the table. Given that it is a score for a movie that is quite literally named “All Quiet on the Western Front,” I found it sort of ironic that this was the Best Score winner this Oscars season. I found myself noting that lots of the songs in the score sounded the same, carrying the same theme throughout all of the different pieces, and eerie instrumentation or uncomfortable pauses of silence being the most prominent part of the score. This is in no means a diss upon the work of the composer, as it is difficult to strike the correct tone when it comes to a war film, but it seemed to be a more ordinary soundtrack compared to its competitors.

The Fabelmans was a movie about the movies, and had the names of many of the movie industry’s greats working behind it. From director Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams, this movie seemed to be a tribute to the “greats” of the industry. Williams’ score seemed on par with what he has created in the past for movies like The Book Thief and The Post, offering a poignant and moving score to back a movie filled with drama. While Williams normally utilizes a full orchestra, this score seemed to strip some of the grandiose elements away, leaving a simple soundtrack that entranced me in a nostalgic childhood wonder. My personal favorite song of the score was “Mother and Son”, a piece that features mainly acoustic guitar that gives the feeling of dancing with your family in your childhood home. While I normally think that Williams’ work seems to sound somewhat similar, this movie surprised me with his ability to pare back an orchestra to tell a smaller story through such a big assortment of instruments. It definitely seemed to strike the right tone for the life story of Spielberg that is told through The Fabelmans, and was a great addition to the film.

While I am an avid lover of Everything Everywhere All At Once, I don’t think that they were necessarily the frontrunner in this position. The score was good at bringing the kooky sort of multiversal madness that was needed for the movie, but wasn’t anything that would immediately cause me to turn my head. The score did its job well, but I think the most recognizable song would be one that it borrowed from the classical sphere. The iconic “Claire De Lune ” played in the hot dog for fingers multiverse (which Jamie Lee Curtis plays with her feet) seems to be the song that I really remember from the movie the most. I do love the fact that the score was composed by three people, Son Lux being a band, bringing the idea that one singular person does not have to compose for a movie. However, overall this soundtrack did its purpose, supplementing the movie, but I don’t mind that it didn’t win the award. 

When looking at the past reputation of Justin Hurwitz, it is undeniable that he has had a grip on the category of Best Score. While Babylon was deprived of any of the main categories at the Oscars this year, Hurwitz has never failed to make a soundtrack that perfectly matches the tone of whatever movie it features in. The frantic madness and obsession of Whiplash, the jazzy-style and whimsical feel of La La Land, and the bombastic Old Hollywood styled score of Babylon. His music for the movie is what drew me to the movie in the first place, as I saw the soundtrack show up time and time again in people’s reviews of the movie. Babylon’s score is very loud and overzealous, reflecting the tone of the movie and the absolute wild ride that it takes you on. My personal favorite of the soundtrack is probably the most famous of the entire score, “Voodoo Mama”, which sweeps the listener up in the loud and bold tones of jazz, giving the feel of an Old Hollywood party. With a combination of Hurwitz’s usual jazz style and implementation of unique techno sounds, this soundtrack tells a story of its own with its music. 

Carter Burwell for The Banshees of Inisherin was a score I wasn’t expecting to love as much as I did. This score is, much like the movie itself, charming, telling a simple story of a loss of a friendship. This score does a great job at telling the story that it was supposed to, adding a bit of charm and whimsy to its songs, just like the fictional town of Inisherin itself. The score strongly utilizes instruments like the marimba, celesta, harp, and glockenspiel, which is perhaps what gives the score its charm. My personal favorite of the score is “The Mystery of Inisherin,” the final song in the score, which has a sort of melancholy feeling added to the whimsical tone of the soundtrack, reminiscent of some of the Harry Potter movies’ scores. This score really came as a surprise to me, as I was expecting more of a generic dramatic score for a movie that is all about how one can fall out with those around you, but Burwell’s work with this movie definitely made me interested to explore his other work and what he puts forward when it comes to composing movie scores in the future. 

When looking at the general consensus, there really was no clear frontrunner. Everyone had their favorites, and every person seemed to have a different opinion on who should win. Some wanted the contemporary score of Everything Everywhere All At Once to continue what I nicknamed the “EEAO sweep”, while others wanted Williams to win for his work on The Fabelmans, a tribute to everything that the 91 year old composer has done for the industry. Personally, my opinion was that Hurwitz should’ve taken home his third Oscar, as his work on Babylon was beyond exceptional, carrying the story of the movie through his score. Or, if the Academy was not willing to continue Hurwitz’s reign over the category, to award it to Carter Burwell for The Banshees of Inisherin, a movie that was robbed of any wins this Oscar season. I enjoyed Williams’ work on The Fabelmans, alongside the wild and zany score of Son Lux in Everything Everywhere All At Once, but I am still shocked that Bertelmann took home the Best Score award. Admittedly, I hadn’t spared All Quiet on the Western Front’s score much thought, and the win made me explore the work of Bertelmann. While the win was shocking, I think it goes to show that the Oscars will always keep one on their toes with who the Academy chooses to honor, oftentimes bringing different artists to light for people to explore. 

Article by Ashley Mauldin

Featured Image by Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via GI