Polish Composer Wins Oscar
Polish composer Jan Kaczmarek walked away with the Oscar for Best Original Score at yesterday's blockbusting awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
The prize went for his work for the film 'Finding Neverland', which explored the world of J.M Barrie, author of the much-loved childrens' classic 'Peter Pan'.
Kaczmarek joins a wide array of Polish composers that have been feted in recent years. Zbigniew Preisner won acclaim for his work on Kieslowski's Three Colours Trilogy, whilst Wojciech Kilar has been a consistent hit for many years now, penning scores for films as varied as Coppola's 'Dracula' and Polanski's 'The Pianist'. Michal Lorenz also scored a popular hit for the film 'Bandyta'.
This website doesn't normally rush to pour water on the success of the gallant Poles. However, call us spoilsports, but we can't help feeling that the score for 'Finding Neverland' was a tad unexceptional. Like the film itself in fact. Surely the outstanding element of this rather saccharine film was Johny Depp, who was nominated for (but did not win) the Best Actor gong. To be fair though, Depp didn't want to win so he got the result he wanted. Feel free to write in and attack our snooty comments - shaking your fists is arguably what the Oscars is all about, so rancid tomatoes at the ready!