BlackBerry (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score to the 2023 film BlackBerry directed by Matt Johnson. The original score was composed by Jay McCarrol and was released through Mondo on March 15, 2024, nearly a year after the film's release. McCarrol won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Original Score.
| BlackBerry (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) | ||||
| Film score by | ||||
| Released | March 15, 2024 | |||
| Recorded | 2022–2023 | |||
| Genre | Film score | |||
| Length | 34:38 | |||
| Label | Mondo | |||
| Producer | Jay McCarrol | |||
| Jay McCarrol chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
editAs with all of Johnson's films, the original score is composed by his frequent collaborator Jay McCarrol, who considered scoring the film to be very difficult owing to its frantic nature of the film and the sounds that permeate through the film. McCarrol added that the film was very dense with audio which led some sequences being hard to compose, especially in one scene where a character is receiving bad news in an office with loud video game noises going on in the background.[1]
McCarrol wanted the film to be a hybrid between diegetic Doom like music but also "have it sort of get a little fuller as the story drops some new darkness and ominous bad news" as a balance between the score and the video game music, adding that he and Johnson went through back and forth until they found the point where he did not know what to do anymore. The last version he composed was considered to be his favorite cues.[1] The entire score consisted of "bleeps and bloops" which had been referred to the noises that come from computers.[2]
McCarrol had provided the samples and demos after a week long shooting had concluded. The screenwriter Matthew Miller complimented McCarrol's idea of incorporating the sounds of 1990s technology, like the dial-up modem and the pieces where played in the room during the editing, that provided some life to the footage.[3]
Release
editTrack listing
edit| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Do You Hear That?" | 1:22 |
| 2. | "I Think That's a Bad Idea" | 1:09 |
| 3. | "I Need a Prototype" | 1:21 |
| 4. | "Doom" | 1:59 |
| 5. | "Sacrifice" | 0:53 |
| 6. | "Selling Minutes" | 2:16 |
| 7. | "BlackBerries" | 1:35 |
| 8. | "Network Limit" | 1:51 |
| 9. | "CrackBerries" | 2:40 |
| 10. | "Where's Doug?" | 1:17 |
| 11. | "A Phone Without a Keyboard" | 1:49 |
| 12. | "A Collect Call" | 1:59 |
| 13. | "Internal Projections" | 2:15 |
| 14. | "Doing It All" | 4:15 |
| 15. | "China" | 1:57 |
| 16. | "Back When Movies Were Good" | 1:48 |
| 17. | "That Was a Guy's Thing" | 2:02 |
| 18. | "Selling Data" | 2:10 |
| Total length: | 34:38 | |
Reception
editDavid Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "regular Johnson collaborator Jay McCarrol’s synth score gooses the energy and fits the subject matter, complemented by some choice needle drops from Joy Division, The Strokes, Moby and The White Stripes".[6] Richard Propes of The Independent Critic wrote "Jay McCarrol's original music also manages to enhance the film's effectiveness and not so subtle yet effective tonal shifts."[7] James Verniere of Boston Herald described it "a nervous electronic score by Jay McCarrol".[8]
Accolades
edit| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian Screen Awards | May 2024 | Best Original Score | Jay McCarrol | Won | [9] |
References
edit- 1 2 Thompson, Owen (June 2, 2023). "Blackberry composer finishes film 'bloody and bashed'". MetRadio.ca. CJTM. Archived from the original on October 2, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
- ↑ Atkins, Heidi (August 23, 2023). "On the phone with Blackberry". Varsity. Archived from the original on December 11, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
- ↑ Punter, Jennie (February 28, 2024). "BlackBerry Film Duo Reveals 'Top Secret' Production Stories". Toronto Film Critics Association. Archived from the original on March 17, 2026. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
- ↑ "BlackBerry - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack LP". Mondo. Archived from the original on January 18, 2025. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
- ↑ "Blackberry (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". Apple Music. March 15, 2024. Archived from the original on January 15, 2025. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
- ↑ Rooney, David (February 17, 2023). "'BlackBerry' Review: Jay Baruchel and Glenn Howerton in a Scrappy Account of the Once-Ubiquitous Smartphone". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 20, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
- ↑ Propes, Richard. "Movie Review: Blackberry". The Independent Critic. Archived from the original on April 15, 2026. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
- ↑ Verniere, James (May 12, 2023). "Winning 'BlackBerry' tracks rise and fall of first smartphone". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on May 19, 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
- ↑ Vlessing, Etan (May 31, 2024). "'BlackBerry,' 'Little Bird' Dominate Canadian Screen Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 6, 2026. Retrieved May 30, 2026.