Watching movies belonging to soundtracks

When I like a song and learn that it is actually a soundtrack of a movie, I usually look it up on IMDB. Often it belongs to a romantic movie, a super hero movie from Marvel or a TV show. In these cases I do not look any further. But sometimes I get curious while reading the plot or watching the trailer. I’ve found many good movies based on the soundtrack. And of course many others, which I could not watch to the end. Here I list a few examples from both categories.

Beyond the Black Rainbow

The trigger of writing this blog was “Beyond the Black Rainbow”. I first listened to its music on TIDAL in its “My Daily Discovery” playlist. I’ve listened to the whole album a couple of times already when I discovered that it’s actually a soundtrack. It was tagged as horror, but I liked the music so much, that I started watching the film. I never finished it, not even on a second try. It is sluggish and boring, and I fell asleep both times. But I keep listening to the music: synth music with lots of strong basses, nice melodies.

Morgan

Talking about horror movies. There is also a positive example: Morgan by Max Richter. I fell in love with Max Richter’s music when I listened to his version of The Four Seasons. I checked his other works and found the album Morgan. I liked it and it turned out that it’s a soundtrack. First I was scared that it’s a horror movie, but in the end it was less scary and more thought provoking than an average Harry Potter movie :-)

Six Days, Six Nights

One of my all-time favorite albums is Six days, Six Nights by Michael Nyman. I do not like listening to songs in loop, but sometimes I listened to A La Folie… five times in a row. I’ve tried to watch the movie, but I did not like it. Often the soundtrack mirrors the story of the movie. Not here. The music is often bright and happy, while the movie is just the opposite. After so many years I am not sure if I ever finished watching it.

Blade Runner

When I started collecting CDs from Vangelis, I was not yet aware, that many of those were movie soundtracks. I do not like watching sci-fi movies. They limit imagination. As you could guess, I prefer books. Imagine my face, when I learned that Blade Runner is actually a soundtrack of a sci-fi movie :-) However I was curious. I watched it, a couple of different versions. I loved all of them. In the end I even read the original novel and a couple more books from Bradbury.

Blade Runner -- 1982 poster

These are just the tip of the iceberg (hello Antarctica – another soundtrack by Vangelis). There are a lot more examples, on both sides. Did you ever watch a movie because you already knew the soundtrack? Reach out to me on LinkedIn or Twitter (links in the upper right corner).