https://youtu.be/NeHVtkX2PJI, screenshot from DVD; this song and scene perfectly encapsulate the feeling of watching a glamorous, beautiful life from the outside and wishing you could be a part of it (the YouTube video shows Sabrina getting that life later in the movie).
4. Summer Kisses, Winter Tears by Elvis Presley > Until the End of the World
https://youtu.be/LcIiMlFgDc8, screenshot from video; no one captures the alienation and freedom of driving like Wim Wenders does. The version of this song on the official soundtrack is by Julee Cruise, but I believe the song in this scene is by Elvis.
5. My Heart is in the Highlands by Arvo Part and Else Torp > The Great Beauty
https://youtu.be/PiolWBlf35M, screenshot from DVD; not only is every frame in this movie a painting, but every song choice in this movie is transcendent.
6. Dreams by the Cranberries covered by Faye Wong > Chungking Express
https://youtu.be/H3VpC8x3wL8, screenshot from DVD; what a joyful, yet heart-rending scene of loving someone secretly and ardently from afar. This song is actually sung by the actress in the scene, Faye Wong, who was better known at the time as a canto-pop star.
7. Yumeji's Theme by Shigeru Umebayashi > In the Mood for Love
https://youtu.be/ypY9OaKCfRU, screenshot from DVD; nothing will ever express loneliness better than this song combined with Maggie Cheung walking in slow-motion.
8. Ich Ruf Zu Dir by Johann Sebastian Bach > Solaris
screenshot from art of the title, which also has a great video embedded on the page; when I saw this movie several years ago, I went into this movie and am certain I came out a new, parallel self. The opening credits with this song were already the point of no return.
11. All the World is Green by Tom Waits > The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
https://youtu.be/bUS6lbvFr-0, screenshot from IMDb; I don't remember this movie very much, but it did give me one of my favorite songs of all time, this one by Tom Waits.
12. Theme from The American Friend by Jurgen Knieper > The American Friend
https://youtu.be/lO27rZ_aZcE; screenshot from DVD. The theme from this movie repeats throughout, but it is at its best after an assassination. The melody is taken over by a sinister accordion as Bruno Ganz commits and runs away from the scene of the crime, in the Paris Metro.
13. Romance Anonimo by Narciso Yepes > Forbidden Games
https://youtu.be/UD9Isy9aKUk, screenshot from Hulu. This music plays following a particularly painful moment in the movie, which we process as the camera pans the volcanic "geria" vineyards in Lanzarote. This combination of movie moment+music is seared into my psyche.
16. Modern Love by David Bowie > Mauvais Sang
https://vimeo.com/397129961, screenshot from video; my heart just absolutely soars watching and hearing this scene.
https://youtu.be/EZfM2VMs_vI, screenshot from video; I may not agree with what's being propagandized here, but it's such a fricking slick, exciting, adrenaline-pumping song and scene
24. The main theme from The Conversation > The Conversation
https://youtu.be/x-_LxiRETWA, screenshot from video; if paranoia could be soothing, this song is what it would sound like.
25. Générique by Miles Davis > Burning
https://youtu.be/57X3MgtTMfM, screenshot from Amazon Prime; watching this scene, you can literally feel the wind in your hair.
26. Générique by Miles Davis > Elevator to the Gallows
https://youtu.be/_qQ-qIZ0g2Q; screenshot from HBO Max; before the Beach Bum came out, I don't think I would have believed you if you told me I'd one day really love a Jimmy Buffett song. But here it is in this freeing, give-no-shits movie. By the way, that's Snoop on the left, Matthew McConaughey in the middle, and Jimmy Buffett on the right.
some thoughts
This has turned out to be something of a catalog of my favorite music and film-makers: David Bowie, Cat Power, and Tom Waits each show up twice in this list, as do Almodovar, Wim Wenders, and Wong Kar Wai. (I also think Kubrick and Paolo Sorrentino are geniuses with how they used music in their films.)
Also, I'm realizing now that a lot of these scenes are opening credits. We lose so much with the fact that Hollywood has largely moved the credits to the end of the movie. Sure, as I've shown here, we lose what can be an impactful setting of the mood but, most importantly, we lose an acknowledgment of the work and people that created the thing !
Hope you catch some of these movies and these tunes 🎵🎶
