In 2019’s ‘Joker’, we are introduced to a beautiful score by Hildur Gouanadattir. It has already won a Golden Globe for best original score and will most likely take an Oscar home. One scene in the film that makes for good filmmaking material by using the soundtrack to its best potential is when the Joker is a guest on The Murray Franklin Show. 

What really touched me about this sequence is that it begins with the typical talk show music as the Joker comes on, whether that was diegetic or non-diegetic sound was the filmmakers choice. 

In the scene, the Joker is on Murray Franklin’s (Robert DeNiro) show. He argues with Murray about how the world and society has been cruel to him and people like him. The scene comes to a screeching climax when Arthur tells a morbid joke and then shoots Murray in the head. 

What makes this scene so compelling is that the soundtrack builds up continuously just as Joker is about to kill Murray. The soundtrack lends a sense of danger that is about to ensue on the screen and the use of the only diegetic sound heard on the screen is the Joker and Murray talking to each other, which gives you a sense of danger almost as if they are the only two people in the room despite having a live audience watch them. It makes the scene more intimate as both the characters converse with one another as the scene intensifies. 

The scene fades out as Joker shoots and kills Murray as the music dies down with its main theme of viciousness and evil looming over the shoulders of the movie. It deserved to be nominated for Sound Editing and Mixing categories because of its ability to seamlessly blend diegetic and non-diegetic sound into the 1980s Gotham City. The soundtrack does a perfect job of detailing this gruesome theme of loneliness and abandonment in the fabric of the film. This movie is one of the best films of 2019, if not the best and perfectly captures the essence of the Joker character with its powerful themes and it’s amazing performances.