did peter jackson ruin Song To The Siren?

Started by Pubrick, March 04, 2010, 08:44:04 AM

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Pubrick

i will never see The Lovely Bones and i hate to make anyone relive the trauma but it came to my attention that it features This Mortal Coil's cover of tim buckley's Song To The Siren. this is very upsetting to me cos it has already been used magically and definitively by David Lynch in the desert sex scene in Lost Highway:



Lynch was obsessed with the song and happy to finally find a place to use it after legal wrangling kept him from using it in Blue Velvet. he considered it one of the all time greatest songs ever written and you can hear its influence (or maybe just shoegazing/dream pop in general) on his work with julee cruise.

can anyone describe to me in detail what happens in the scene in Lovely Bones where this song plays and if it's as ill-fitting as every other choice peter jackson seems to have made in that turkey?

this can also be a Song To The Siren appreciation thread (WE'VE BEEN SORELY LACKING ONE!)
under the paving stones.

MacGuffin

Quote from: ρ on March 04, 2010, 08:44:04 AMcan anyone describe to me in detail what happens in the scene in Lovely Bones where this song plays and if it's as ill-fitting as every other choice peter jackson seems to have made in that turkey?


*SPOILERS*



It's played over the ending when Susie is about to cross over to Heaven and meets all those that were murdered by Mr. Harvey. It feels distracting because the song seems to overpower the scene instead of being about what Susie is feeling.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

hedwig


Just Withnail

#3
Yes!

I prefer this live-version to the studio one, but just because I fell in love with all it's little idiosyncrasies first. 



The video noise, the slow zooms into Elizabeth's shy sincerity (the shyness such a contrast against the huge imagery flowing effortlessly through that vibrating throat of hers), the fact it's just them two, the ocean of the lyrics and the fire of the feel of it in the blue and orange light, the everything I can't write just watch and listen.

brockly

here's the scene from TLB that uses the song. if you have no desire to watch the film then go for it:



in terms of the song's meaning and tone, i don't think it has any place in TLB. besides, anyone who recognises Song To The Siren from LH (which most definately is the song's definitive incorporation into cinema) is going to be heavily distracted by its use in that scene. i certainly was. Lynch's eventual use of the song transcended simply finding the right scene for it, it influenced the entire story arch of his film.

pete

so I had a dream where I was fucking a girl named Alice.  Then I woke up to this thread where Alice and Pete do it.  so now she's coming over in an hour.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Pubrick

cheers mac. and brockly, that clip you posted seems like the song completely drowns the dialogue, isn't that asian chick saying something? if it really played like that then it definitely took away from the scene, as in literally took the sound away.

and pete.. let her make the first move!
under the paving stones.

brockly

yea, sorry didn't watch the clip for long enough to realise. the audio from the film is muted, but the music sync appears to be identical (from memory).

Just Withnail

Every day is a good day to see that live version of Song to the Siren up there. I've been obsessing over it lately. One of the most beautiful things I know.