Here’s the low-key Oscar rematch you might not be aware of

Joyce Eng
·4 min read

“Babylon” only has three Oscar nominations, but if you go by the odds, it will win two of them: Best Production Design, which it’s dominated all season, and Best Original Score, where Justin Hurwitz has recently lost some ground to “All Quiet on the Western Front,” composed by Volker Bertelmann. That race could come down to the wire and wind up a whole lot closer than the composers’ first Oscar showdown.

Hurwitz and Bertelmann have faced off at the Oscars before, though you might not realize it at first glance. Bertelmann also performs under the name Hauschka, which was how he was credited for his “Lion” (2016) score, co-written with Dustin O’Halloran. That season, Hauschka and O’Halloran lost the Golden Globe, Critics Choice Award, BAFTA and Oscar to Hurwitz, who swept for “La La Land.”

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While it was obvious Hurwitz would win the Oscar back then, that’s not the case this time around. “Babylon” would be one of the rare original score winners in the preferential ballot era not to hail from a Best Picture nominee. Since the Best Picture lineup was expanded 13 years ago, only two films have won Best Original Score without a bid in the top category: 2015’s “The Hateful Eight” by Ennio Morricone and 2020’s “Soul” by Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Both of these wins make sense. Morricone was a legend and six-time nominee who was overdue for a competitive Oscar (he received an honorary Oscar in 2007) and was revisiting the genre with which he’s associated, the Western. And “Soul” was literally about a jazz pianist and featured several music sequences. Batiste composed the jazz pieces, while Reznor and Ross wrote the score.

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What’s more, neither film had strong competition by way of Best Picture nominees in the score category. “The Hateful Eight” only faced one, “Bridge of Spies,” in addition to fellow non-Best Picture nominees “Carol,” “Sicario” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” “Soul” beat two Best Picture nominees, “Mank” and “Minari,” the former of which was also composed by Reznor and Ross. The other nominees were “Da 5 Bloods” and “News of the World.”

Such is not the case for “Babylon,” which is the only non-Best Picture nominee in the group. Not only that, but the four Best Picture nominees are pretty robust. Seven-time nominee “The Fabelmans” is comparatively the weakest, but it’s another Steven Spielberg–John Williams collaboration. “All Quiet” and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” by Carter Burwell, are nine-time nominees. And Oscar frontrunner and 11-time nominee “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” by Son Lux, was a surprise contender here. It’s currently fifth in the odds, behind “The Fabelmans” in third and “Banshees” in fourth, but you can’t underestimate the strength of a Best Picture favorite in an unsettled race.

Since its corresponding score victory at BAFTA, where it won six other awards, “All Quiet” has been sneaking up behind “Babylon” in the odds. This may come down to a battle of polar opposite scores. “Babylon” by far has the Most Music, a catchy, jazz-soaked score that’s both bombastic and melancholic. “All Quiet’s” cues are more simplistic, highlighted by a foreboding three-note motif that burrows into your brain. They each have won a precursor, as “Babylon” prevailed at the Golden Globes, where Hurwitz has a 4/4 record, but “All Quiet was not nominated there or at the Critics Choice Awards, where “Babylon” lost to “TÁR” by Hildur Guðnadóttir. BAFTA is the only place “Babylon” and “All Quiet” have competed against each other, so does that give “All Quiet” the edge? Or was its win a case of the Brits going overboard with their favorite film?

Or perhaps Hurwitz, who also won Best Original Song for “La La Land,” has the edge with the academy. But by the end of Sunday night, their Oscar head-to-head will either be 2-0 for Hurwitz or Bertelmann will even the score (no pun intended).

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