Michele Braga, for the film «Teeth of shark» I chose minimal, fresh and positive sonorities – Corriere.it

«Don’t do too much» was the most difficult challenge for Michele Braga, the composer who, together with the director (also composer) Gabriele Mainetti wrote the soundtrack for «Shark teeth». The first work by Davide Gentile, the film follows the story of 13-year-old Walter, set along the Roman coast: «We see reality through his eyes, with great delicacy and without sinking completely into a single genre – explains Braga -, so musically it is not it was immediate to find the right tone, there was the risk of overplaying one’s hand».

The choice was therefore to tell the subtext of the events alternating «very minimal, fresh and positive electronic sonorities, and other muffled and suffused ones, as if we were underwater, where extensive use is made of a real instrument, that is the French horn». The soundtrack of “Denti da Squalo”, published by Curci editions, enters “a childish world that is emancipated”, continues Braga, finding a key “to not be too intrusive and to enhance the director’s work”. It was the first experience with Davide Gentile: «In these cases you need to build a relationship, find a key, and even if Davide, like many directors, is very control freak, we understood that once he trusts you, he leaves you plenty of room».

The Roman composer, born in 1977, and Gabriele Mainetti (who is also one of the producers of «Denti da squalo») instead they have been collaborating for many years and together they also wrote the music for the two films that consecrated the director, «They called him Jeeg Robot» and «Freaks out»: «We are friends for 30 years, we had been dating the same people and we were two kids who were passionate about music. Our partnership is therefore born from friendship that can give an edge to the artistic activity. I learned a lot from him, even about directing».

According to Braga, «Mainetti has great capacity to know how to take a step back, take off the director’s or producer’s clothes to listen when he has to devote himself to the music. And he is the first critic of himself». Braga, award-winning for his soundtracks, already has more than fifty projects to his credit, including the music of “Dogman” or “I stop when I want”. He thinks back to the beginnings when he and Mainetti were, «more naive» locked «in a small 2×3 room with two computers» writing the music for Jeeg Robot. And for the future he anticipates: «I like to wander. Surely one thing I’d like to do is venture into pure horror, territory I haven’t ventured into yet».