The 25 Best Movie Music Moments Of 2016 - Page 2 of 5

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20. The Bridge Dance – “The Fits”
Whatever else it is — a coming-of-age film, a hell of a directorial debut, completely original — Anna Rose Holmer’s “The Fits” is essentially a dance movie, focusing as it does on a pre-teen’s attempt to integrate to a dance troupe that is suffering from an epidemic of fainting spells. It’s a film built around percussive rhythm and dreamy silence, and one of its finest moments comes when Toni (the outstanding Royalty Hightower) is walking home and, on an overpass bridge, starts practicing her moves. Having struggled a bit so far, she finally gels up, a clap-like rhythm getting louder as the scene goes on (it’s a film of remarkably good sound design, which is always something that separates the directorial wheat from the chaff). It’s a tiny moment, but also feels like a big victory, and Hightower’s smile is sort of unforgettable.

DEADPOOL

19. “Careless Whisper” – “Deadpool”
The movie’s opening credits, a wry post-modern tableau of violence poking fun at usual similar sequences (“Some Douchebag’s Film, Starring God’s Perfect Idiot,” etc. etc.), and set to Juice Newton’s “Angel In The Morning,” might be flashier, but we somewhat prefer the film’s slightly quieter conclusion (though hey, it’s still pretty great). And it comes courtesy of George Michael, in his second appearance here — perhaps the least a tribute that could be paid to the star. Earlier in the film, Wade (Ryan Reynolds) tells his love Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) that his Wham! album is one of his favorite possessions. Later, now a burn-faced superhero, Deadpool is reunited with his gal, accompanied by the song. Except the song’s being played off his phone’s tinny speakers, in a moment that makes her laugh. It’s at once a fun joke at similar moments in other films, and the kind of disarmingly sweet thing that elevates the film above the obnoxious level it might have threatened to sit otherwise.


MOANA18. “You’re Welcome” – “Moana”
After its hit soundtrack helped to make “Frozen” Disney’s biggest ever movie, the studio took to embracing the animated musical much more, and “Moana” brought in the big guns, with Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of biggest-musical-in-years co-writing songs with Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa’i for the soundtrack. It’s a strong collection, arguably more consistent and charming than “Frozen,” with highlights including I-Want song “How Far I’ll Go” (which is perhaps too transparent in its attempt to be another “Let It Go”) and Jemaine Clement’s “Shiny.” But our fave was probably “You’re Welcome,” which lets Dwayne Johnson provide some arrogant exposition through the film’s funniest and catchiest song. Johnson can only just about carry the tune, but it peaks later on in the rap verse, the most “Hamilton”-ish moment, and featuring the unforgettable couplet “I killed an eel/I buried its guts/Sprouted a tree/Now you got coconuts.”

cemetery-of-splendour17. DJ Soulscape – “Cemetery Of Splendour”
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s woozy, dreamlike vibe is utterly singular, but it means that you come to expect certain things from him. So we were pretty surprised when, near the end of his haunting, beautiful “Cemetery Of Splendour,” The Artist Sometimes Known As Joe drops a dance sequence. In a public area, a group of middle-aged women in pastel-colored T-shirts perform what seems to be some kind of dance-ercise class, moving almost, but not quite, in sync to Korean DJ Soulscape’s breakbeat-ish track “Love Is A Song” before being joined by a man. Weerasethakul keeps the track going after we leave their synchronized claps, to join lead Jenjira (Jenjira Pongpas) watching a football game on a construction site. As with so much of his work, you can’t quite explain why it moves you so much, but it absolutely does move you, so much.

mountains-may-depart16. “Go West” – “Mountains May Depart”
Jia Zhangke bookending his “Mountains May Depart,” a film in part about the growing Westernization of China, and China-ization of the West, with the Pet Shop Boys’ famous cover of “Go West” might be a little on-the-nose in terms of its themes, but boy, does it work. In its opening, Shen Tao (Zhao Tao) leads a dance to the song, part choreography, part conga-line, and it beautifully summons up a certain new-millennium optimism. By the end (set in Australia in 2025), the film recovers from its frankly awful third act by finding Shen alone in a snowy field. She lets her dog off its leash and begins dancing on her own. Slowly, “Go West” can be heard on the soundtrack, getting louder and louder as Zhao pulls off a dance of equal parts joy and deep sadness at the passing of time. It might be borrowed, as an ending, from Bong Joon-Ho’s “Mother,” but it works beautifully.