Ennio | Official Trailer

In the world of film music, there are a handful of composers whose sound is so distinct you need only mention their name and it conjures up vivid cinematic imagery and emotion. Besides the two dominant paradigm shifters, John Williams and Hans Zimmer, other names such as Bernard Herrmann, Howard Shore and Danny Elfman may come to mind. But Ennio Morricone holds a coveted place in the hearts of film composers and film lovers, because of his effortless and sweeping gift for creating melodies, knack for imagining distinct and iconically memorable tone combinations, and the immense depth and breadth of his musical contributions.

Morricone died in 2020, at the age of 91, leaving us with over 400 scores for film and television, and over 100 classical works by which to remember him. Director Giuseppe Tornatore has assembled a star-studded cast of contributors from the worlds of music and film and has created a new documentary titled Ennio, sharing the story of this talented artist’s life.

The official trailer for Ennio is made up of a blend of clips from films that Morricone has scored, interspersed with footage of him composing and conducting, blended with footage from interviews with many film and music industry leaders. It opens with a shot of Morricone standing in his crowded office, moving his hands as he conducts the music in his head, while we hear a sustained note from the double bass. The trailer pivots next to a black and white shot showing a coin inserted into a jukebox, and we hear an early 1960s Italian pop song by Edoardo Vianello, an artist for whom Morricone composed music early in his career.

I love this next moment in the trailer. At 0:19 we have a close-up of Morricone singing the flute motif from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. He was a quirky composer who was unafraid of sounding different and fresh, and even if you haven’t seen this 1966 classic, you’ve certainly come across the instantly recognizable flute/ocarina/vocal melodic call and responses that bind the film together sonically.

At 0:45 we pivot sonically to another of Morricone’s melodic masterpieces, “Gabriel’s Oboe,” from the 1986 film The Mission. As we hear this melody we are given compliment after compliment for Morricone’s work from Quentin Tarantino, John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Joan Baez and Bruce Springsteen.

Then at 1:01 we transition seamlessly into the operatic soprano melody from the main theme of Morricone’s score for the 1968 film Once Upon a Time in the West. Now we see a series of cinematic shots as Morricone’s voiceover in Italian describes how he got into film scoring and why he stayed there.

As we see Morricone receiving one of his Academy Awards at 1:21, the music shifts to solo piano evoking some of the tender moments in Cinema Paradiso, but it’s actually a solo piano version of “Deborah’s Theme” from Morricone’s score for the film Once Upon a Time in America, as though we’re watching him sit at the piano to compose it. The string orchestra enters at 1:34 giving us a lush rendering of “Deborah’s Theme,” which continues to the end of the trailer.

From this trailer, we get the sense that this documentary was conceptualized, shot and scored with the kind of passionate and detailed artistry with which Morricone lived his life. I can’t wait to see it.

Ennio will be in select theatres on February 9, 2024.

— Jack Hui Litster