There’s not much to say about Matt Schrader’s ever imaginatively titled Score: A Film Music Documentary.  A documentary made in praise of the Hollywood elite composers (who, to be fair, deserve the praise), Score has the presentation quality of a TV special or DVD bonus feature with no original thoughts about its subject.

Its ideas about film music aren’t particularly exciting, new, or challenging;  that film music helps construct the subjectivity of the viewer is elementary film theory at best.  With so little at stake, Score primarily consists of an intermingling of interviews with industry people and clips from popular Hollywood films.  While cinephiles are certain to appreciate the dedication to familiar films, Score’s lack of interest outside of Hollywood marginalizes much more recent and compelling cinematic sounds from around the globe.  Do we really need another documentary about the New Hollywood of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas?

Budding cinephiles should approach Score: A Film Music Documentary as an introductory crash course in Hollywood film music, but seasoned film fans may have to look elsewhere for something a bit less familiar.

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Mark Barber: @WorstCinephile