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Oscar 2019 Winner Predictions: Original Score

Going into this year’s nominations, cinephiles wished for three composers to make the cut in this category.

If Beale Street Could Talk
Photo: Annapurna Pictures

Going into this year’s Oscar nominations, cinephiles wished for three composers to make the cut in this category, but only one snuck through in the end: Nicholas Britell for his mournful, stately cues for If Beale Street Could Talk. Missing out were Thom Yorke for his sharp pivot away from Goblin for Suspiria and Justin Hurwitz for supplying the introverted epic First Man with a sense of muted majesty. After all, the Academy’s music branch, which doesn’t particularly feel as freshly renovated as some of the other wings, had to reserve room for mold-hewing work, some more defensible than others (such as Marc Shaiman’s recycled fits of fancy from Mary Poppins Returns).

Ludwig Göransson, like just about everyone involved in Black Panther, comes so close to transcending the Marvel template that his work feels almost revolutionary in the moment, but he doesn’t quite work the orchestra’s percussion section as hard as Alexandre Desplat does for Isle of Dogs, and their presence in the same category may end up torpedoing what feels like the superhero movie’s best shot at an actual win. And, especially among voters who take their political agendas into every single category, it also has the bad fortune of being up against the far more forthright If Beale Street Could Talk and BlacKkKlansman.

The Spike Lee film’s Oscar stock continues to rise with each passing day, to the point that it’s starting to feel possible it could win the majority of its six nominations. However, despite Lee’s stalwart musical cohort Terence Blanchard’s appropriately playful-somber versatility, we’re betting on early favorite Britell’s score to gently weep its way to the podium.

Will Win: If Beale Street Could Talk

Could Win: BlacKkKlansman

Should Win: If Beale Street Could Talk

Eric Henderson

Eric Henderson is the web content manager for WCCO-TV. His writing has also appeared in City Pages.

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