National Film Score Day: Celebrating Ryuichi Sakamoto and the best film scores since 2010

Today is National Film Score Day, which recognizes the musical masterpieces in cinema and, more specifically, the talented composers who create them.

One such talent was the recently deceased Japanese maestro Ryuichi Sakamoto, who composed nearly 50 film scores during his illustrious career. The loss of a titan like Sakamoto reminds us that our favourite films would not be as memorable or as treasured without the work of a composer, whose job it is to enhance emotion, elevate the intensity of the on-screen action, and complement themes by sharpening our senses.

The musical score is not only an integral part of cinema; it is the very soul of a film.

So, to celebrate both National Film Score Day and honour the work of Ryuichi Sakamoto, here is our list of the best film scores since 2010.

Filmmaker David Fincher collaborated (and not for the last time) with Nine Inch Nails members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for his Facebook film in 2010. The two musicians agreed to try their hand at film scoring, and the result is truly one for the ages. By not conforming to traditional scoring approaches, they made an innovative, ominous and pulse-pounding selection of tracks consisting of piano melodies and synthesizer snaps that somehow perfectly complement the trajectory of the central protagonist, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who mercilessly bulldozes everyone on his way to perceived success. It won the 2011 Oscar for Best Original Score, and both Reznor and Ross went on to score Fincher’s criminally underrated The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (which bagged a much-merited Grammy in 2012), Gone Girl and Mank.

Another standout from the start of the 2010s came courtesy of the now-disbanded French house duo Daft Punk. Their score was so