Hello, or welcome back, and thank you for subscribing to, or reading, this newsletter. I usually begin these bulletins with a recommendation, but this edition’s recommendation is built into the body of the post. The Souvenir Part II is great, and out now in the UK and in the US.
Joanna Hogg’s fifth feature The Souvenir Part II is one of the best British films of recent years, the rare sequel (to 2019’s The Souvenir) that complements and deepens an understanding of its predecessor while retaining its own discrete character. I liked it so much that I’m almost tempted to come out of film criticism retirement and write something substantial about it. (My film criticism muscles are rusty because I’ve been out of the game for a few years. My last published critical review—a displeased reading of Kathryn Bigelow’s ham-fisted Detroit for 4Columns—was in August 2017, the same month I began a full-time career in film programming.)
I won’t do that now, but I will identify one thing about The Souvenir Part II that I especially admired: its soundtrack, which is not just a well of eclectic, impressively deep cuts, but carefully specific to its mid ‘80s-through-very early ‘90s period setting. I’m admittedly anal about this kind of stuff, but few things irritate me more than when a film is set in a specific period, and makes a spectacle of visual period detail, but carelessly splashes a generic from-the-decade-ish soundtrack over the top. (“But that song didn’t come out until five years after this scene is supposed to happen! Refund please!”) It’s the kind of thing that most people won’t notice, or even (quite understandably) care about, but which has the potential to bounce me out of a movie’s world in a heartbeat.
No such problems in The Souvenir Part II, which grounds the viewer in its milieu with songs by the likes of Erasure, Propaganda, Dexys Midnight Runners, Soul II Soul and, most magnificently and unexpectedly, Talk Talk’s “It’s Getting Late in the Evening”, a B-side to their 1986 hit single “Life’s What You Make It”, and for my money one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded. When, out of nowhere, this obscure song’s staccato opening notes suddenly filled the room at the Alice Tully Hall, where I was present for the film’s New York Film Festival 2021 premiere, tears instantly pricked my eyes—a kind of sensory shock. (Listening to later-period Talk Talk has been an even more emotional experience in the wake of the 2019 death of their creative leader Mark Hollis.) There’s also a particularly inspired use of Eurythmics’ ebullient, ecstatic electronic jam “There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)”, which features a joyous harmonica solo from none other than Stevie Wonder. I will definitely dedicate a future newsletter to Wonder’s prolific freelance harmonica career!
Shout-outs go to the films’ music supervisors (Part I: Ilona Cheshire, my former BFI colleague, interviewed here, fascinatingly, about her work on the film; Part II: Ciara Elwis and Maggie Rodford), and Hogg, a real devil-in-the-detail type, herself. Here is Hogg on the process:
Music was incredibly important, and often the choices would have to do with what I remembered from that time, and what music from that time conjures up particular ideas and memories. [Soul II Soul’s] ‘Back to Life’ is one of my favorite tracks. I didn't want it to cut. I wanted it to keep going. And also I was being very particular about tracks being created along with the timeline of the film. So that was from 1990, I believe, and we were ending the story in 1990. So it was very particular of that moment in time and it introduced a different sound. And also it was a track I just loved. [via Thrillist.]
Spotify truly does suck—consider Bandcamp as a more ethical alternative/addition!—but I am fortunately something of a moral coward a pragmatic man, so here is a link to the soundtrack in full. Enjoy!
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inspired to listen to some Talk Talk now. also hell yes, we love the Bandcamp!!