To say that Ennio Morricone was a game-changer would be an understatement. He was, without a doubt, the most prolific, accomplished, and genius film composer of a generation. If you don’t believe that, writer-director Guiseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso, Malena) has a 156-minute documentary to prove it, and so much more.
When you buckle in for this portrait of the acclaimed composer, the first thing you’ll be struck by is how many admirers there are of Morricone. The people who appear in this documentary include all-stars from every walk of film, music, and entertainment ranging from Dario Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci all the way to Bruce Springsteen and James Hetfield, and all the legendary names in between like John Williams, Quincy Jones, Quentin Tarantino, and Hans Zimmer.
But at the heart of the film is the Maestro himself. Ennio tells the story of his long history with music. From his dad being a trumpet player to his time at the conservatory learning under the stewardship of the revered composer Goffredo Petrassi to the formation of his improv group which found a way to make music out of discordant sounds. One thing you realize by the end of this film is what Tornatore is after when detailing this story of the late composer. Each moment of this film is for a different audience of Morricone fans. For those in the art of composing and studying music, the first half of this film will be enlightening. For those film nerds obsessed with dissecting every aspect of movies, the second half of hearing Morricone describing how he came up with and put together his most iconic themes will be catnip. And those who discovered the icon through the recreations of his music by modern artists will appreciate the third act to see Ennio’s enduring legacy.
It is through all of this that we discover a man of immense talent, grace, and knowledge. Multiple talking heads detail Morricone’s writing process. How he was able to write without playing, knowing the music so well that he could hear it in his head and get it out on paper. Ennio himself talks about the few times he sat at the piano and sang his harmonies for demos, and how they didn’t help because he had a not-so-strong singing voice, but at that time, no directors minded because they knew he’d give them something excellent even if he couldn’t describe it to them. This bears out to be true when in 1969, he completed 21 film scores in a single year. Ennio Morricone would go on to receive 6 Oscar nominations, only receiving a single win for his score for Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight in 2015, 9 years after receiving his honorary Oscar for his lifetime body of work.
Over his life, Ennio Morricone composed over 400 scores for film and television, as well as 100 other classical works, and received countless awards including three Grammys, three Golden Globes, six BAFTAs, and two European Film Awards. But it is not the accolades Ennio or anyone prides themselves on when discussing his legacy. It is how profound and prolific his music is. What you notice about them is that they have been so ingrained in our collective zeitgeist for so long, you might have assumed they had always been here, but hearing Ennio describe how he came up with the ubiquitous and iconic themes for Once Upon a Time in America and A Fistful of Dollars and The Untouchables are the moments that bring a heartwarming joy, nostalgia and euphoria to an audience when they truly realize how important a score is to a film.
The film doesn’t gloss over the challenges and pushback Morricone faced either. Detailing how at the time, many of his peers considered film scoring as a lesser art form. And how he was shamed by those he respected most for his pursuit of this career path. It wasn’t until Morricone brought so much prestige and attention to the craft of film composition, and his ability to combine styles from classical and contemporary music into it, that people began to see how he transformed the industry as a whole and opened it up to a whole new generation of artists.
With Ennio, friend and frequent collaborator, Guiseppe Tornatore crafts an endearing, earnest, and all-encompassing tribute to film’s greatest composer. Packed wall to wall with collaborators, admirers, friends, family, and the man himself to tell the story of how film music got to be this good. It may be long, and it may be a lot, and there may be moments that are not for everyone, but one thing is certain by the end of it, you’ve witnessed an absolute genius at work, and we can’t thank you enough for it, Maestro.
Ennio is currently playing in select theaters courtesy of Music Box Films. The film will be available on Digital platforms on April 9, 2024.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdhiDjF_uSQ]
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Phoenix is a father of two, the co-host and editor of the Curtain to Curtain Podcast, co-founder of the International Film Society Critics Association. He’s also a member of the Pandora International Critics, Independent Critics of America, Online Film and Television Association, and Film Independent. With the goal of eventually becoming a filmmaker himself. He’s also obsessed with musical theater.
