Movie Music Madness

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Best-picture Oscar nominations this year have gone to a compelling and diverse group of films that, for the most part, earned them: Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, and There Will Be Blood. For me, the soundtracks or scores to three of these films in particular helped make them as great as they are. Here are a few examples:

1) Juno: Even if you haven’t seen the movie yet, you’ve no doubt heard (or heard about) the acoustic songs in the soundtrack sung by Kimya Dawson, formerly of the Moldy Peaches. The movie is about a snarky, smarter-than-her-age high school girl named Juno who finds out she’s pregnant. With lyrics like “Joey never met a bike that he didn’t wanna ride / and I never met a Toby that I didn’t like,” and “you’re so nice and you’re so smart / you’re such a good friend I hafta break your heart,” Dawson’s playful songs could just as well be coming straight from Juno herself. I admit that when I listened to the songs on iTunes a few days after seeing the movie they didn’t have nearly the same effect, but I still say it’s the perfect backdrop for one of the smartest, quirkiest little flicks this year. Apparently, though, the Oscar committee isn’t into childlike simplicity: no Oscar nomination for these tunes.

2) There Will Be Blood: Based on an Upton Sinclair novel, this harrowing (and darkly comical) look at California’s early oil days features compositions by Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood. The results are pretty bizarre. Jolting string bursts and odd, discordant progressions make for some wickedly tense moments in the film. Unfortunately, Greenwood’s not eligible to win an Oscar because most of the music used in the film was initially intended for another project.

3) Last but not least, No Country For Old Men: Consists mostly of ethereal, atmospheric background noise— “minimalist,” critics have said. The lack of sound in Carter Burwell’s score builds tension in seemingly uneventful scenes (like one in which a serial killer flips a coin and places it on a convenience store check-out counter). The understated score only helps propel and dramatize those moments. Sometimes silence speaks volumes, although apparently it doesn’t get you formal recognition—no Oscar nomination for Burwell, either.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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