Subterranean Slow Dancing

Pop music and cinematic storytelling have long gone hand in hand, and the union has resulted in moments joyous and revelatory, effective yet cheesy, and striking but vaguely ill-advised, among other points on the spectrum. Films are of course possible without pop songs — and some great ones eschew music altogether — but it is hard to imagine some of our favorites without that emotional kick that a judiciously placed song, familiar or otherwise, adds to a crucial scene. Straight-up musicals aside, the right song in the right place can seal the deal, so to speak.

Off the top of my head: that scene in Lost in Translation where Bill Murray as the bedraggled and famous but somewhat washed-up actor and Scarlett Johansson as the young married rudderless girl end up dancing in a club, and Bill — and myself, in the theater, watching — hears Phoenix’s Too Young for the first time: silly and happy, temporary and unexpected. Or that scene in Luc Besson’s Subway — not a great film, but one that I watched when I was too young for it, and thus open to being affected in unpredicted ways by its urban romanticism — where Christopher Lambert and Isabelle Adjani slow dance, after hours, in a secluded corner of the underground mass transport system, to the tune of Rickie Lee Jones’ A Lucky Guy playing on the radio: sweet, sad, fleeting, lovely.

Richard Ayoade’s Submarine: Ace songs by Alex Turner.

Certain directors have become known for their brilliant use of pop music: Quentin Tarantino, John Hughes, Sofia Coppola, Cameron Crowe, and so on. In the span of one movie, I was ready to add Marie Jamora to that list — her debut feature film, Ang Nawawala, which won over audiences at Cinemalaya this year, is, among other things, a string of particularly memorable song-scenes. We asked her co-scriptwriter Ramon de Veyra — who also shared music selection duties with Marie — to tell us about his favorite pop song cinema moments.

“Recently I really enjoyed Richard Ayoade’s use of music in his debut film Submarine. Alex Turner’s songs were ace, too. Of course, Cameron Crowe probably takes the crown (was that a pun?) in terms of marrying pop music and cinema, from Singles to Almost Famous to even Vanilla Sky, which is where I first heard Sigur Ros. The song Crowe wanted to use (track 4 from the album “()”) hadn’t been recorded in a studio yet, so he used a bootleg live MP3 recording from a Sigur Ros concert. Speaking of Sigur Ros, Wes Anderson’s use of Staralfur in The Life Aquatic, where the crew confront the Jaguar Shark, sticks out for me. As does the use of the Zombies’ The Way I Feel Inside in one very emotional scene. Anderson also uses pop songs very well. It’s hard to hear Elliott Smith’s Needle in the Hay now and not think of Richie Tenenbaum shaving in the bathroom. Then there’s Michael Cera singing The Guess Who’s These Eyes in Superbad... I could go on and on...”

Cameron Crowe’s Singles: Crowe takes the crown when it comes to pop music and cinema.