The Phantom of the Erstwhile Fairfax Largo (and, hopefully, the Newfangled La Cienega Largo) has returned from his two year film-scoring layoff: as noted by The Playlist, Jon Brion has written the music for Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York!
As a self-professed Brion fanboy, this is immensely pleasing. Though I admired Jonny Greenwood’s atonal score for There Will Be Blood, there was still some disappointment in Jon Brion not being there to share in Paul Thomas Anderson’s triumph. Interestingly, it seems like everyone who’s been associated with Brion in the past has been trying to get away from “that sound” recently; while I get changing up producers album-to-album, shouldn’t someone be due to collaborate with Brion? Someone other than Dido?
Seeing as how Brion provided the heartbreaking score for Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it’s only natural that Kaufman would enlist the musical genius – whom I once saw perform “Springtime for Hitler” as a Journey anthem – for his directorial debut. Kaufman’s writing often lacks for warmth, so something wistfully melodic could only be a good thing. And, y’know, it’s always smart to hire one of the best guys available.
Synecdoche, New York is scheduled to screen late next week at Cannes, and I am crossing every extremity to the snapping point in the hopes that it is wonderful.