MovieScore Media’s latest release is a first in many senses of the word. The first film score of Lithuanian composer Ieva Marija Baranauskaitė chamber jazz score for the pioneering Baltic queer drama has been getting rave reviews. Written and directed by Romas Zabarauskas, The Lawyer tells the story of gay corporate lawyer Marius (Eimutis Kvosciauskas) his life drifts away while he is busy teasing his friends and chasing young lovers. When Marius’ estranged father dies, his mourning turns to love as the lawyer finds an unanticipated connection with a sex-cam worker Ali – a Syrian refugee stuck in Belgrade.

“When I was offered to the movie, I had to leave to Dubai for a year to teach and perform there” explains Ieva Marija Baranauskaitė about the film. “So, I started writing music based solely on the script, imagination and conversations with the director. This was not new to me since I create music for theatre performances in a similar way which basically means that I have to start seeing through the eyes of the director and trust my imagination.”

“In our conversations, the director often mentioned the elements of the film noir and I liked the concept of telling a contemporary story through the means of the old-time genre. In my work, I always combine genres with each other, hence, as a musical axis of the movie, I chose a combination of chamber jazz, which is typical of neo film noirs, and modern sounds. In order to maintain the integrity of the sound, the compositions were created for four instruments, many of which I played myself. In the film, all the sounding music was recorded live. I collaborated with wonderful saxophonist Stasys Šalaševičius and master of precision, drummer, sound engineer Mykolas Baranauskas who managed with meticulous care in the recording and mixing process to make several instruments sound as orchestral jazz.”

MMS21005 THE LAWYER (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music Composed by IEVA MARIJA BARANAUSKAITE
Release date (digital): April 9, 2021