Movie directors with a sonic signature

[jsilvela]

Many movie directors make sure there is good music in their movies, or that there are impressive sound effects. Not talking about that here.

How about directors that use the dialog, music and background sounds in a unique way?
So that you can almost tell who made the movie just by the sound?
I always feel I’m in good hands with them. I can think of a few.

To name four:

1. Terrence Malick: the inner poem/prayer while the characters are walking or looking at other stuff. Impeccable music.
   
   
   
   
2. Céline Sciamma: her movies have almost no music. It’s there only in specific moments, happening within the scene. Terrific music, when it’s there.
   The dialog is up-front, intense.
   
   
   
   
3. Wong Kar-Wai: intimate dialogs, hushed tones, sometimes monologues. Painterly scenes, parsimonious timing.
   
   
   
   
4. Michael Mann: he loves showing people at work. There is sound of drills and pneumatics and industrial equipment. Gunshot is LOUD. With Mann, you can hear the space. The reverb is there, clear differences tell you the scene happens outdoors, indoors, in a car.
   
   

Do people also notice this kind of thing? Any favorites?

 

[BR52]

Stanley Kubrick, in his movies he was great to select the right one.

 

[jsilvela]

Stanley Kubrick, in his movies he was great to select the right one.

Clean, squeaky clean.
For me his best soundtrack and best movie: Barry Lyndon

 

[Soniclife]

David Lynch, he clearly puts as much into the sound as everything else, right from the start of his career. Peter Greenaway is another. They both have their favourite composers.

 

[jsilvela]

David Lynch, he clearly puts as much into the sound as everything else, right from the start of his career. Peter Greenaway is another. They both have their favourite composers.

Agree; Lynch is one of the greats. Not only does he have terrific taste in music, but sound in his work is important.
C.f. Twin Peaks with its backward speech and electrical noise; Dune with the weirding module.
For me, Denis Villeneuve is another director who takes great care with sound. But his Dune is less sonically distinct than Lynch's.
BTW it's a crime that Villeneuve didn't leverage the mantra "Fear is the mind killer…".

I still need to see some Peter Greenaway. Been in my to-do list for ages.

 

[posvibes]

Spike Lee and Werner Herzog. Quite extraordinary and so different in the way they use musical scores compared to almost anyone else.

 

[Soniclife]

I still need to see some Peter Greenaway. Been in my to-do list for ages.

I'd recommend starting with Drowning by Numbers, fwiw.

 

[Wicky]

Ron Fricke of Samsara, Baraka fame.
Dead Can Dance's The Host Of Seraphim

 

[Joe Smith]

Robert Altmann's use of overlapping/cocktail party-like dialogue. Best examples of which are Nashville and M*A*S*H.

 

[scrubb]

Clean, squeaky clean.
For me his best soundtrack and best movie: Barry Lyndon

Kubrick's "2001" has one of the best soundtracks ever. Audio is an important part of the film throughout all his work.

I was also impressed with the soundtrack for Darius Marder's "Sound of Metal", which won an Academy Award for best sound. Ironically it's about someone who loses their hearing.

 

[jsilvela]

Robert Altmann's use of overlapping/cocktail party-like dialogue. Best examples of which are Nashville and M*A*S*H.

right.
I think Alan Rudolph was a kind of protege of his and also is very careful with sound: Trouble in Mind, Choose Me,

 

[jsilvela]

Kubrick's "2001" has one of the best soundtracks ever. Audio is an important part of the film throughout all his work.

I was also impressed with the soundtrack for Darius Marder's "Sound of Metal", which won an Academy Award for best sound. Ironically it's about someone who loses their hearing.

Will have to check Sound of Metal...

2001 was so bold in its soundtrack. I mean, Blue Danube for the space station, genius.
The scenes with HAL; sound or its lack, fundamental.

As much as I acknowledge what a brilliant film it is, I've never warmed to it.
I think Tarkovsky made Solaris out of unhappiness with 2001!

 

[bluefuzz]

Wim Wenders, Aki Kaurismäki, Pedro Almodovar and Jim Jarmusch all use music in very personal and considered ways.

 

[jsilvela]

Wim Wenders, Aki Kaurismäki, Pedro Almodovar and Jim Jarmusch all use music in very personal and considered ways.

Haven't seen any Kaurismäki. Recommendations?
Jarmusch, and Wenders, both very distinctive definitely.

Yes, Almodóvar is very good. Another Spanish director with a great ear is Julio Medem.
Perhaps his best is Lovers of the Polar Circle. This scene I love.

 

[Soniclife]

I was also impressed with the soundtrack for Darius Marder's "Sound of Metal", which won an Academy Award for best sound. Ironically it's about someone who loses their hearing.

A lot of that aggravated my tinnitus, might be why I only thought the film was only alright.

 

[bluefuzz]

Haven't seen any Kaurismäki. Recommendations?

Perhaps start with one of his few (only?) english language films 'I hired a contract killer' starring French Nouvelle Vague legend Jean Pierre Léaud and Margie Clarke.

But anything by Kaurismäki is worth a watch IMO. Some of my favourites are 'Take care of your scarf, Tatiana', 'Drifting Clouds' and 'Man without a past'.

 

[Martin]

Christopher Nolan uses sound to great effect.

Martin

 

[Martin]

So do the Wachowski siblings.

 

[Sokel]

Apart from my favorite already posted by OP Wong Kar-Wai (In the mood for love is amongst my very favorites and music is one of the reasons) the ones that's definitely needs to be mentioned is Krzysztof Kieslowski with Zbigniew Preisner's music with a deep into emotion compositions.

 

[bluefuzz]

Leos Carax 'Les Amants du Pont-Neuf' had great music and sound design - as does all Carax' films:

Carax's Pola X is worth tracking down, not least for the Scott Walker score.