The big things in our life usually do not surround itself in a cacophony of sound, things slow down giving us time to think. Laurent Eyquem has, I have no doubt, thought of this in his new score for Nostalgia. This is a slow, melancholy and rhythmic flow of music getting straight to the heart of emotion.
The film is written and directed by Mark Pellingham and is a series of stories about love and loss and explores the meaning of objects, artifacts and memories which ultimately shape our lives. French composer Laurent Eyquem is the obvious choice to score this movie, known for his lyrical style, his scores reminiscent of John Barry’s music in which the sheer emotional impact of composition stops everything and you have to listen. This was evident in his score to Copperhead in 2013 which earned him the Breakthrough Film Composer of the Year by the International Film Music Critics Association.
Nostalgia is a short score. Light in it’s use of instruments, is piano lead with cello sections and in some cues it uses a lone trumpet, not on full blast but pulled back, melancholic. The only noticeable leitmotif is the rolling piano in the underscore. The Opening Theme is sublime, scattered piano notes lifted by the trumpet and completed by the cello. It’s flawless. The 11 cues are variations of the same but each one holds the attention. The Absence is particularly moving; almost ambient in the way the strings hold long notes and the piano is reduced to 5 plaintive notes. It conjures up empty space.
This may not be a soundtrack you play often but it deserves to be heard as a master class in moderation and because, in parts it’s beautiful.
Laurent Eyquem
TRACKLIST
1. Opening Theme
2. A Life In Pictures
3. The Granddaughter
4. Lives Saved
5. The Decision
6. Ready To Say Goodbye
7. An Empty Life
8. The Letters
9. Emptiness
10. The Absence
11.Moving On
Label: Varese Sarabande
Filmic Tracks 