Kaufman's Game

In collaboration with MovieScore Media, Music Box Records is pleased to present the premiere CD release of the score to the 2017 thriller film Kaufman's Game (2017) composed by French composer Philippe Jakko.

Written and directed by Helier Bissell-Thomas, Kaufman's Game tells the story of Stanley (Jye Frasca), a young man who dreams 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 of strings, horns, electronic synths, cristal baschet, vintage organ, programmings and a few parts for cello, played by soloist Eve-Marie Caravassilis.

The 8-page booklet features liner notes by Gergely Hubai, discussing the film and the score, based on an original interview with the composer.