The Best Music in Film

Wim Wenders

(Paris, Texas, Buena Vista Social Club)

S&S: What is your favourite film soundtrack music and why do you like it so much?
"My all-time favourite soundtrack is Miles Davis' score to Louis Malle's 1958 masterpiece Lift to the Scaffold. What I like(d) so much about it, was its spontaneity. Miles Davis apparently just stood in front of the screen and played along to the film. Utterly cool."
S&S: In what ways does music best enhance a film?
"By not changing the meaning of the imagery, but just filling them with air, and longing, and time. Music can really "ground" a film, but only if it is not overwhelming the visuals."
S&S: What is the most effective sequence of music in your own films?
"That must be Ry Cooder's work for Paris, Texas (1984). Probably the opening scene, but any other moment in the film was just as effective. Maybe because there was no other music in the movie, not a single piece, but Ry's score."
Last Updated: 29 Sep 2008