The Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) hosted its 5th annual SCL Awards at the Skirball Cultural Center on Tuesday evening (2/13). Emceed by Siedah Garrett, the event featured Billie Eilish and Finneas winning the award for Outstanding Original Song for a Comedy or Musical for “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie. Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro won Outstanding Original Song for a Drama or Documentary for “Can’t Catch Me Now” from Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Nicholas Britell won Outstanding Original Score for a Television Production for Succession. Ludwig Göransson won Outstanding Original Score for a Studio Film for Oppenheimer. John Powell won Outstanding Original Score for an Independent Film for Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.
Martin Scorsese accepted the 2024 Spirit of Collaboration Award for his work with the late composer Robbie Robertson. Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Jason Isbell performed the song “Between Trains” in honor of Scorsese and Robertson. “Between Trains” was originally written by Robertson for Scorsese’s film The King of Comedy.
The Spirit of Collaboration Award recognizes a composer/director relationship which has created a prodigious body of work. Robertson and Scorsese’s collaborations over decades include Raging Bull, Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street, Silence, The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon. Past award recipients include Thomas Newman & Sam Mendes, Terence Blanchard & Spike Lee, Carter Burwell & the Coen Brothers, and last year Justin Hurwitz & Damien Chazelle.
Emceeing the awards ceremony was Siedah Garrett, a Grammy-winning, two-time Oscar-nominated songwriter and a member of the SCL. She recently reunited with Quincy Jones on The Color Purple. She collaborated with Jones on Michael Jackson’s 1987 album “Bad,” including co-writing “Man in the Mirror” and duetting on “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.”
5th SCL AWARDS 2024 Winners
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A STUDIO FILM:
Ludwig Göransson OPPENHEIMER
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN INDEPENDENT FILM:
John Powell STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG FOR A DRAMA OR DOCUMENTARY:
Olivia Rodrigo/Dan Nigro, “Can’t Catch Me Now,” THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG FOR A COMEDY OR MUSICAL:
Billie Eilish O’Connell/Finneas O’Connell, “What Was I Made For?,” BARBIE
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A TELEVISION PRODUCTION
Nicholas Britell SUCCESSION
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL TITLE SEQUENCE FOR A TELEVISION PRODUCTION
Carlos Rafael Rivera LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE FOR INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Stephen Barton, Gordy Haab STAR WARS JEDI: SURVIVOR
THE DAVID RAKSIN AWARD FOR EMERGING TALENT
Catherine Joy HOME IS A HOTEL
THE SPIRIT OF COLLABORATION AWARD
Robbie Robertson and Director Martin Scorsese
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
The one rule to follow is that... Read More