My final musical selection from a 2024 film comes from a movie that has too many to count. I could have dedicated all ten of my posts from the past two weeks to A Complete Unknown, director James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic.
If I had to pick just one, I’d go with a performance of ‘The Times They Are A-Changin” at the Newport Folk Festival. In that scene, the crowd — hearing the song for the first time — instantly recognizes its impact and starts singing along by the second chorus.
Sean Baker has a knack for opening his films with memorable pop songs. 2017’s The Florida Project kicks off with Kool & the Gang’s ‘Celebration’. In 2021’s Red Rocket, it’s NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye.‘ In both cases, the songs accompany the film’s opening credits in Baker’s signature Aguafina Script Pro font.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, I guess, because last year’s Anora uses the same approach to wonderful effect.
I’ll have a lot more to say about I Saw the TV Glow in a couple of weeks, so today I’ll just note that it has one of the year’s best soundtracks.
Consisting of both music written for the film and deep cut alternative rock songs, it lives in the same uneasy emotional space as the film itself. Writer/director Jane Schoenbrun said they wanted the soundtrack to be a “teen angst classic” and, well, mission accomplished.
Like yesterday’s post, today’s SOTD is from a musical biopic set across the pond. But Kneecap is a very different movie than Better Man.
The film depicts the beginnings of the titular Irish rap trio, an unlikely outfit made up of two troublemaking young men and an Irish language teacher (who wore a ski mask during the band’s early performances to hide his identity from people who knew him from his day job).
They are among the few remaining speakers of the Irish Gaelic language, and use it liberally in their songs.
Getting back to my favorite musical moments from 2024 films, here’s the second I’ve featured from a movie about a musician.
The film is Better Man and the musician is Robbie Williams, a hugely successful British pop star who is completely off the radar of most Americans. This is a guy who held the record for the UK’s largest stadium show yet has never had a song on the Billboard Top 40.
Meet Me In Montauk 