Kaufman’s Game (Philippe Jakko)

Digital: iTUNES | AMAZON | SPOTIFY
CD: MUSIC BOX RECORDS

MovieScore Media reunites with Allies composer Philippe Jakko for another tense thriller score using an unusual orchestral ensemble. Written and directed by Helier Bissell-Thomas, Kaufman’s Game tells the story of  Stanley (Jye Frasca), a young man who dream of becoming a champion boxer despite the fact his physical build makes him unsuitable for such heavy workload. When a stranger approaches him outside the gym with the offer of a specially produced steroid, Stanley gets drawn into the increasingly more violent operations of a powerful organization, while unwittingly entering into a series of tests designed to prove his mettle.

“The music had to be eerie, ominous, mysterious, with tension as a modern film noir,” explains Philippe Jakko about the project. “In order to keep an anxiogenic ambiance,  I used unusual harmonies, atonal moments, glissandi, quarter tones; harmonics. But I didn’t want it to sound like an horror soundtrack, the music has to be sometimes cold, other times it needed to be warmer. I also used traditional leitmotif techniques, such as giving Stanley a soft piano arpeggio or a Moog synth for the Mafia guys.” The score uses a small ensemble uses strings, horns, electronic synths, cristal baschet, vintage organ, programmings and a few parts for cello, played by soloist Eve Marie Caravassilis.

Composer Philippe Jakko graduated in musical high schools in Paris and Lyon where he studied harmony, counterpoint, composition and conducting with a music degree in musicology (on film scoring). Philippe is also a multi-instrumentalist: he plays the piano, guitars, keyboards, bass and the Arabic oud. His music for Valérie Donzelli Que D’Amour! won the Jerry Goldsmith Award in 2015. In 2017, he won an award for Le coeur en Braille at the Festival du Film en Famille in Quebec. Apart from film scoring, Philippe is also active in the world of ballet, he composed a hip hop opera and wrote several hit songs: “Yakalelo” (1998) and “Parce qu’on sait jamais” (2008) sold over 1,500,000 copies. His score for Allies was released by MovieScore Media in 2014.

MMS18010 • KAUFMAN’S GAME (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music Composed by PHILIPPE JAKKO
Release date (digital): April 27, 2018
Available on CD from Music Box Records