Gondry, Music, Greatness

On Saturday I went to see Michele Gondry’s new film, The Science of Sleep, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The cinematography, as is usually the case with Gondry, was dazzling, surreal, and some of the sequences were quite beautiful. However, I think that Gondry’s last film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, benefited greatly from the contribution of acclaimed writer, Charlie Kaufman - who wrote the screenplay. I found the story line of the latter film more developed, and the film more cohesive overall. Nonetheless, The Science of Sleep is absolutely worth watching.

Eternal Sunshine has one of my favorite contemporary film scores, and although Jon Brion, who arranged it, was not in charge of the music in Gondry’s new film, Jean-Michel Bernard’s soundtrack is also great. Gondry has a unique ability to blend music and images in his cinematography, and does so effectively in The Science of Sleep.

One thing I love about the score to Eternal Sunshine is its ability to stand on its own. It has, along with the soundtrack to Lost in Translation, remained in my ‘most often played CD pile’ for a couple years. Although my only basis for judging the score of The Science of Sleep was hearing it as it accompanied the film itself, it seems to achieve a similar quality.