Music I Like in Films I Like.

I keep finding ways to distract myself from revising.America- Simon&Garfunkel (Almost Famous)

After I watched Almost Famous for the first time, this was the scene that stuck in mind. In the way On the Road is the ultimate travelling book, America is the ultimate travelling song. It describes the experience so well, from killing time with your friends ("Counting the cars","Playing games with the faces") to quiet, solitary moments of beauty ( "The moon rose over an open field.") My favourite line in the whole song, though, describes the kind of disconnected malaise you can get caught up in from spending too much time away from everything familiar to you, "Kathy, I'm lost... I'm empty and aching and I don't know why."

It's an anthem; I've a lot of memories of everyone singing along to this song on long trips that are reminiscent of the infamous Tiny Dancer scene in this film. And it's really hard to listen to this song, especially if you're going somewhere new, and not feel excited to be alive. Which Zooey Deschanel plays out perfectly when she sits her super conservative mother (Frances McDormand) down and tells her, "This song explains why I'm leaving home to become a stewardess," before running onto the street, beaming, hair in rollers, jumping into the passenger seat of her boyfriend's car and rolling off.

These Days- Nico (The Royal Tenenbaums)

There's a load of memorable music moments in this film. The uses of Fly by Nick Drake and She Smiles Sweetly/Ruby Tuesday by The Rolling Stones are favourites, and it's a close-run thing, but I think this scene tops them. When I'm in a funk, watching this film is something I do to cheer myself up. This never fails to make me smile.

Vessel In Vain- Smog (Dead Man's Shoes)
"God will forgive them. He'll forgive them and allow them into heaven and I can't live with that."

This is a good film that I have no desire to ever watch again. It's bleak and dark and harrowing. There's one moment of comic relief near the beginning, and rest of the film is pretty devastating, and hard to watch. The opening is a gritty super-8 montage of the two central brothers from the film growing up together in the midlands, set to this song, and it sets the tone for the rest of the film perfectly.

Shampoo Suicide- Broken Social Scene (Half Nelson)

Half Nelson is worth watching for this scene alone, because it really needs to be watched in context, because it's amazing.

The Star Spangled Banner- Gogol Bordello (Everything is Illuminated)
They're very different, and I definitely prefer Jonathon Safran Foer's novel to the film, but the one thing the book is lacking that the film has in abundance is Eugene Hutz, who plays Alex who is a premium character. One of my favourite moments in the film is when Gogol Bordello show up with Eugene to greet Jonathon (Elijah Wood), and serenade him with the American national anthem. They just look so adorably earnest and Jonathon looks so confused. So funny.
Also the scene with Sunflower by Paul Cantelon is pretty.

The Winner Is/ How It Ends- DeVotchKa (Little Miss Sunshine)

I was going to write about the driving montage in this film set to Sufjan Stevens' Chicago, but Everything is Illuminated reminded me of How It Ends by DeVotchKa (it was used in the trailer for that film), which is an underrated theme, so I'm writing about that instead. The film opens with a close up of Olive's bespeckled eyes, and this song. It's really melancholic and pretty and it was stuck in my head for days after I watched the film.

There's some glaring omissions, and I'll probably update this when I have spare time.