08. Art & Doddy Todd “Song Of Love” from “Trance”
Boyle’s latest, “Trance,” is a hallucinogenic mind-bender that concerns a stolen painting, a love triangle, and the dark heart beating inside even the most seemingly ordinary of men (a favorite theme of his) – a return to the bleak terrain that made him famous after spending a couple of movies examining relatively sunny scenarios (Aron might have cut his arm off but at least he got out of the damn canyon). The movie centers around an unscrupulous auction house security guard (James McAvoy), who after being knocked unconscious during a robbery (a robbery, it should be noted, he helped engineer), forgets the particulars of the crime (something his confederates, led by Vincent Cassel, are none-too-thrilled with). The gangsters enlist the help of an unnaturally beautiful hypnotist (Rosario Dawson), who tries to unlock his secrets subconsciously. Part of how she does that is by asking him to imagine a day with a beautiful young woman with “an old song” playing on the radio – the old song being this obscure gem, Art & Doddy Todd‘s “Song of Love.” It’s a beautiful little pop song, one that plays during one of the gauzy dream sequences. Once again, the reason it works so well is that it not only contrasts so strongly with the rest of the inky-hued movie, which includes fingernail-extracting torture and nudity, but that it also sharply contrasts with the score by Rick Smith, which is mostly droning electronic propulsion (he cowrites a pop song for the end credits that features Emilie Sande that is gorgeous, but talking about the ending of this movie is downright treasonous). Like the fantasy sequences themselves, the song lulls you into a false sense of tranquility and when you’re ripped out of that world, things are even grittier and more violent.
The 10 Best Music Moments In Danny Boyle’s Movies
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Sorry, but you forgot Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise, and the "Sell Song" (on YouTube as "Best Ever Motivational Sales Tape") sung by Timothy Spall.
Yeah, I noticed that too, and then realised that life is much better when you don't spend your life ragequitting over semantics.
As Neil points out, Trainspotting is set in Scotland. That's such a big mistake I stopped reading there. Piss-poor.
"The movie, up until this point, was a decidedly raucous account of the lives of a handful of English heroin addicts"
WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! It's a movie about SCOTTISH heroin addicts. England and Scotland are different countries – look it up!
Plastic Bertrand in 127 Hours, with the flashback to the kids partying in the snow. Perfect!
Sunshine and 28 Days Later soundtracks are so amazing. Also, Trainspotting.
Excellent article! A great retrospective of Danny Boyle's eclectical choice of music that turns into epic some scenes. My very personal choice should be Sunshine (shivering all over everytime I hear that melody), by John Murphy and of course, Sigur Rös, who I discover after watching 127 days.
Oh man, no Sunshine on the list! That was a brilliant soundtrack… and even the end credits track Avenue of Hope, is bewitching.
Also, even though the film Traffic used it better, it's worth mentioning the use of Brian Enos song, Ascent: An Ending, in 28 Days Later just because its such a great track.
The All Saints song does not close out The Beach. It is used during the night time sex scene. The last song used (credits) is Lonely Soul by UNKLE and Richard Ashcroft. Speaking of that film, I think it has the best music moments. You failed to mention the Blur Song, On Our Own, used in the montage of Leo alone in the woods which even turns into a video game at one point and the Brian Eno song, Spinning Away, covered by none other than Sugar Ray. But believe me, it's good.
The entire soundtrack 1 of Trainspotting should be the top 10. Also, in Sunshine, the later to be released Underworld's "To Heal" should be there.
Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" in Trainspotting.. Hits me every smurfing time