Jonas Struck - Harpa nominated 2019 for his score for Max Kestners feature film, QEDA - Man Divided
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One has rarely experienced Copenhagen in her summery dress more alienated and latently dystopic than in Max Kestner’s ”QEDA - Man Divided” with score composed by Jonas Struck.
The protagonist Fang Rung (Karsten Bjørnlund) leaves the ruined and ravaged Copenhagen in 2095 AD to go back in time to our contemporary Copenhagen. The film has a dual focus. It portrays a dystopian nightmarish future: our world devastated by climate change – where time travelling agents are sent back to right the wrongs of our time, to change history for the better. The second focus dwell upon the inner emotional life of our divided protagonist – highlighted by the recurring voice-over directed at his young daughter – bedridden suffering from salt poisoning in future Copenhagen. Both narratives are supported and enhanced through the outstanding score by Struck. Looking at our well-known present world through the eyes of the time traveler, colored by the score, suddenly our familiar civilization and world becomes extraordinary – the lost paradise.The timbres of the score circles around a core of ominous, shrill, yet curiously fragile synth textures. Now and then enhanced by warmer acoustic string instruments and – particularly towards the end of the film – intensified by the introduction of a church organ. Often, we hear a multi layered pulsation in the music: in the future realm as the deep rusty heartbeat of a collapsing civilization; in our present time as fragile outbursts of happiness as our time travelling protagonist realizes the profound miracle of pure drinking water falling from the sky as rain. In a significant scene of the film, a future female head of state is portrayed as a decadent and corrupt political leader – while the musical score seamlessly transforms into a slow and weird cover version of the 80’s pop hit “Tainted Love” – performed by singer Mette Lindberg. The transition from score to futuristic pop song and back to score is compelling and brilliantly composed by Struck. The very same song, in a remix by Vladislav Delay, accompanies the end credits. |
about Jonas Struck Award-winning composer Jonas Struck is a graduate from the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen. He has worked for more than ten years as a film composer scoring and supervising various feature films, national TV-drama series, and a large number of documentaries and short films. Latest the epic tennis drama ”Borg McEnroe”, starring Shia Le Beouf, the Sci-Fi movie ”Qeda – Man Divided” and the American TV-drama ”Conrad & Michelle”.
Struck's sound is a mix of electronic soundscapes and organic instruments with strong signature themes that sums up the DNA of the movie. |