ARIEL MARX & Rebel Hearts

Episode 48 April 01, 2021 00:16:52
ARIEL MARX & Rebel Hearts
A BRIGHTER LENS
ARIEL MARX & Rebel Hearts

Apr 01 2021 | 00:16:52

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Show Notes

This week, we chat with Ariel Marx, composer of the documentary Rebel Hearts, which premiered at Sundance this year. An eclectic composer and multi-instrumentalist, Ariel draws from many genres and often combines orchestral and rare instruments with electronics to create unique worlds of sound. Her scores have premiered in films at Sundance, TIFF, SXSW, Tribeca, Woodstock, Criterion Channel, as well as Amazon, Netflix, HBO, and is a Sundance Film Music and Sound Design Lab fellow. We really enjoyed hearing about her collaborative process with Pedro Kos (director of Rebel Hearts), discoveries she had while working on the music, and her Sundance Lab experience. Enjoy!
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Episode Transcript

Ariel Marx Interview Larkin Bell: So Ariel, we loved watching rebel hearts. We got to watch it this past weekend at Sundance. And , um, it's a Sundance documentary directed by Pedro Kos about the radical Immaculate Heart nuns of the 1960s. Could you introduce yourself a little bit and tell us how you became involved with this project? Ariel Marx: Yeah. Hi and thanks for watching. So I'm a composer. I've been working with film for several years now. Um, and my music publisher is Wise Music and Tracy McKnight, the music supervisor, is part of the team and she also has Node Records and she put out my solo album called Luthier that I wrote this past or. Uh, last year and just release this year. And so that we had just released that. And then she had been, working with Pedro on the film as a music supervisor. And so she put my music in front of him and , um, and we just really clicked and we became involved. Um, that's how I got involved with the project. And yeah. So again, this industry is, as you two know, I'm sure it's all about these, these connections that you have no idea where they'll lead to, but it's always, it's always surprising and lovely. Jennifer Zahlit: Yeah. Um, so your music in the film incorporates both a traditional and an experimental palette uh, reflecting kind of the dynamics and the story of the traditional church and the progressive nuns. Can you talk about developing those two musical palettes and how you wove them into the film? Ariel Marx: Yeah. It was really a really interesting conversation to have with Pedro throughout. Um, so, you know, these women were up against , um, a huge traditional patriarchal force of the Cardinal and the Los Angeles archdiocese. And so we wanted to really delineate in the music , um, the kind of stiffness and flexibility traditionalism , um, of the Cardinal. So that was the, the very, the very metered, very traditional , um, highbrow classical music, let's say. And then the nuns palette we still use classical instruments, but they're in much more playful forms. So some improvisational phrases , um, um, mixed with electronics that, that, that kind of add to this more experimental palette. We use guitars, we use voice, we use , um, woodwinds. We use all these, all these elements, both classical and non-classical that are just played in a more free expressionist way. Um, and that was really important to embody that, you know, they weren't, they, they still loved. Their religion, they loved Catholicism, but they did, they were running up against the patriarchal hierarchy that was suppressing them. So it was about their subversion. Um, but not throwing the baby out with the bath water either. Yeah. That's so interesting. Like, just hearing that, like watching it, I think I said to Larkin at one point, I was just like, They want to just keep doing what they're doing. They just want to wear what they want to like. It just seems so like arbitrary. And so it's interesting hearing you talk about the music, cause that's reflected in there. Like the structure was still there. They're just kind of rearranging things a little bit. Yeah. And, and it was all, you know, most of them, after they, after they quote unquote left the church, they didn't leave the church. They formed a community and an ecumenical community of, you know, all, all different forms of Christianity that , um, still very much followed , the concepts of, of this religion. And so it wasn't a rejection of the religion, but it was a rejection of, of the steel hand they were under with this Cardinal. Um, yeah. And so, and also there was a lot of playful pieces. You watched the film, so there were investigations and there were , um, there were just these outrageous , uh, investigations, interviews, kind of surveillance of these nuns and , um, You know, there's a lot of pain there, but there's also a lot of humor in, in them recalling it of just like, what the hell, what the hell is going on? Just let us do what we want to do. Um, so it was really fun to, to, to really zone in on their humor and strength in, in that as well. Cause their, their humor is what, what, um, helps them survive. I think , uh, it seems that just having a sense of humor about some of these restrictions, where it was important to them to , um, not to belittle the reaction, but they certainly weren't. They have, they had a lot of fun , um, at the same time as, as being really progressive and, and activists. Larkin Bell: And were you familiar with their story before you worked on this project or was it all new? Did you just research? How did that happen? Ariel Marx: Yeah, it was completely new and everyone, I know who's seen it. And a lot of people I know who've seen it are in LA, have no idea about this history. I mean, they were on the cover of major magazines. This was a huge religious showdown , um, that somehow has not imprinted itself in, in, in our memories or so, you know, and I was just introduced to the artwork of Corita Kent. I didn't know. I'm now obsessed with her as I'm sure so many people are , um, So, yeah, it was a piece of history that I don't understand how it hasn't been preserved, but it, you know, this, this documentary is 20 years in the making and , um, and so much of this is coming out for the first time. So it just makes me want, as soon as this, as soon as COVID is over, I can't wait to go and spend a lot of time in the , um, the Corita Arts Center and just, you know, reflect on this a bit more, but yeah, somehow, This has been forgotten. Jennifer Zahlit: It's wild. I went to an all girls Catholic high school, like an hour away from LA. And I never heard about this at all, which is wild. And so I texted one of my former teachers after seeing the film. And I was like, did you know about this? She's like, I lived through it. I remember she, you know, wow. Tell me, this is so. Nuts. Like I just was so struck by the story and, and just, yeah, the resilience of these women that just like stood up to yeah. What you were saying, kind of the patriarchy essentially. Ariel Marx: Well, and it seems that everyone on the film kind of had, after working on the film or being introduced to the film had personal connections they never knew about, for instance, when I was like maybe 75% done with the film, my mom and I were talking about the film and she was telling her friend about it, an old childhood friend about it. Um, and her friend was like, yes, I went to Immaculate Heart High School and grade school and Helen Kelly, the president of the college was my religion and homeroom teacher. And so now they're having , um, Now they're having a zoom of all the IH uh, high school alums to talk about the film, but, you know, everyone, I, it seems that so many collaborators had a connection to this school somehow. Um, so it was really neat how involved we all were before we knew it. Larkin Bell: Speaking of just collaboration, if you could speak a little bit more about what your collaborative process was like with Pedro, the director, and how did everything, the music , uh, your discussions evolve throughout working on the project with him? Ariel Marx: Sure. So, yeah, we had really great conversations at first. I mean, the, the, the function of music was always very clear. There were these needle drops. It was, there's also a great soundtrack that Tracy helped put together of a bunch of needle drops that help establish , um, the era of the sixties and the late sixties and all that that brought about , um, And then of course there are these two original songs by Rufus Wainwright and Sharon Vonnegut and which, you know, open and close the film so beautifully. So the score was much, you know, we decided that there were these necessarily big kind of columns of score that score needed to serve. It sort of needed to poke fun, but also really expose the rigidity and , um, and just inflexible arbitrary firmness of the Cardinal. And so that we knew at that palette was going to be very classical, very rigid. Um, and then we, you know, it was really important for Pedro and I to zone in on the freedom and subversion of the nuns. And so this is sort of what we already talked about, but the first conversations were very palette oriented and how do we express their freedom and express their , um, kind of burbling curiosities and also their real dedication to social justice and, and rigorous education too. I mean, these, these women advocated for, and mostly got , um, higher education. And , um, so yeah, so that was the main conversation of these two kind of contrasting palettes, but not, not necessarily that, that the adventurous and experimental palette had to be from the cloth of the Cardinals palette, but it was showing their experimentalism and their willingness to meet the times, their modernism. Um, so that those were our first conversations. And then it's just working cue by cue um, and you know, tweaking and reforming and all of that. and then we recorded of course, with, with several , um, LA musicians and also a group of , um, musicians in Macedonia, too. so it was, yeah, it was, it was really collaborative with the musicians as well. They really brought their own playful voices to it when asked and yeah. So anyway, our initial conversations were very much about what, you know, what are these blocks of aesthetics that, that need to serve the film? Jennifer Zahlit: There were a lot of like animation sequences in the documentary as well. How did that factor in to the music? Ariel Marx: Yeah. So the anime and the animation Una is she, she's an amazing animator. I just completely fell in love with her work and it's so inspired by Corita's work. And, but, but yet, so original to Una. Animation within, you know, when you're contrasting, scoring a talking head versus an animation, it's really different. Sometimes there's some commonalities, but for the most part animation kind of draws out a little bit more expressionism in the music, so it kind of wants a little bit more dramatism and a little bit more kind of gestural acknowledgement. So , um, you know, there's, there's some great sequences, which I won't give away too much, but where, you know, there's, there's the Cardinal is animated and embodied and the music got to be really big and reflect those movements and reflect the, the anger or , um, you know, some of the humor of the nuns and how they, the sisters and how they responded to some of these rigidities with grace and humor, kind of being able to do that in a more expressive way with the animation, so a little bit more flourishes, a little bit more playfulness to the little movements of the animation. So yeah, I mean, animation kind of inspires the music and inspires me to want to be a little bit more playful and a little bit more reactive, I suppose. Instead of creating a mood you kind of are inspired to go really, really , um, pay attention to the beats a bit more. I loved that. I loved, I thought the animation brought so much to the film. Larkin Bell: Yeah, it was so well done. It really just, you felt at all. Um, this last question is a little bit of a digression, but , uh, we thought we'd ask. So speaking of Sundance, you were recently at 2020 Sundance Film, Music, and Sound Design Lab Fellow. How was your online lab experience? And did you work on the music for Rebel Hearts during the lab or were you working on something else? We're just curious about the labs. Ariel Marx: Yeah, so, I mean, I think end with the festival. I mean, I, it sounds like you guys went and poked around at, at , um, the Sundance film festival. I mean, I think they've done an amazing job to make the virtual experiences as, as best as it can be. And I did feel that way about the labs too. Um, we, there were some, you know, pros and cons to it being online. And I think one of the best parts of it was that we were all in our own studios. We knew, you know, usually the lab happens elsewhere. They bring you up to Skywalker ranch , um, and you get a wonderful studio while you're there. And, and, you know, you're immersed in this little community there. Um, but what was nice here is you just, you, there was no adjustment. You, you knew exactly, you had all your instruments with you, your studio's set it up exactly as, as you know, so you could kind of immediately start creating music , um, in a workflow that you're super familiar with. So I felt like that was a big strength. We knew exactly, you know, how to dive in to it. Rebel Hearts was not part of this lab. Um, I think Pedro was in a previous lab, but , um, no I worked on a different phone when I was there that that is upcoming for this year, but , um, it was great. You know, we, we worked with sound designers, we worked with filmmakers and, you know, so much of the process of working with the director, it's seldom that you're in the same room for a lot of the process, for sure. You'll, you know, they'll come into your studio and you'll listen together and that's wonderful. But as a composer there, hasn't been a huge amount of transition for this social distancing. A lot of it is done, you're just a single person in a room, making music and then sending your music often and seeing how it's, how it's received. Um, so the labs worked really well. Because um, everyone had to be at home. We were also able to have a lot more guests that perhaps wouldn't have been able to go for six days to Skywalker ranch. And so we really had a lot of amazing mentors and they, they, they pulled it off really well. I'm, I'm, I'm so happy about that. And I thought the festival worked really well. Um, being a little avatar was fun. I don't know if you poked around in the New Frontier, but that was cool. Um, And, you know, I got to see a lot of films, so, you know, we're doing the best we can. Um, and you know, I do feel grateful that my process and I think most composers processes haven't really changed. , um, there's so many remote recording opportunities too, that, that hasn't really changed either. So we kind of , um, for process wise, we kind of are the lucky ones, I suppose. Jennifer Zahlit: Interesting. Um, really last question, but just wondering what's your primary instrument or do you, do you play many? Ariel Marx: I play lots of different instruments. My primary instrument is violin , um, and strings. But I also play a bunch of guitars, banjos, ukuleles. Uh, I play flute. I play piano, you know, there's like as a composer, it, it really benefits you to play as many things as possible. But you know, sometimes on my scores, they'll be completely synths and so you know, done obviously with, with just a keyboard , um, or hardware, but it's really an asset to be able to play as much as you can , um, to experiment and be textural and explorative. Uh, but then of course, if I can't figure out, you know, if I can't manage it myself, then of course, I try to collaborate with as many musicians as possible because that's where the real magic happens. But yeah, so I'd kinda, I try to learn as much as I can and, and keep those chops up. Jennifer Zahlit: Love that. Yeah. Well, we end every interview with our three, two, one lightning round. Um, three, two, one action. So we'll start with , um, our three: favorite or most influential film. Ariel Marx: As of recently, I would say the Phantom thread Larkin Bell: Two: dream person. You want to work with? Ariel Marx: I would say, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jennifer Zahlit: One: best advice you received. Ariel Marx: There's no one way to get into this industry and you just gotta keep at it. And those that are in it are just the ones that never quit. Larkin Bell: And action: where can people follow you on social media? Ariel Marx: So I'm most active on Instagram. I'm @ arielrosemarxon Instagram. Larkin Bell: Awesome. Wonderful. Ariel Marx: Awesome. you so much. Thank you. Larkin Bell: Thank you for coming on our podcast Ariel. This was wonderful. Yeah, of course.

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