At the Movies: Jerskin Fendrix

Kaye Song

The film Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, creates its own surreal world, with a plot that consistently surprises, an arresting visual style, and a score to match by the British composer Jerskin Fendrix. This is his first time scoring a film, and he brought an arsenal of sounds that he describes as "uncanny," manipulating familiar instruments until they sound otherworldly, with twisted harps, flutes and bagpipes blending with strings, reeds, and voices. The film, based on a novel by Alasdair Gray, tells a Frankenstein-like tale of a woman named Bella, who is starting life afresh, thanks to the experimental surgeon Godwin Baxter. As her mind develops, she discovers love, her thirst for knowledge and adventure, and her origins.

You can listen to the full interview at 7pm Thursday, and listen again back here after it airs!