CD Reviews Van Helsing and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Van Helsing *** 1/2
ALAN SILVESTRI
Decca B0002331-12
12 tracks - 42:49
If it's a Hugh Jackman movie, it must be the beginning of the
pre-Summer blockbuster season. Like Swordfish
in 2001 and X-2 last year, Van Helsing is a big-budget action
flick that's pushing the definition of "summer" by opening in early May
(well before the even bigger big-budget Hollywood summer fare like Harry Potter turn up at theaters). Van Helsing is a slam-bang, in
your face, non-stop action ride that should get your blood pumping and
the adrenaline rushing -- even more than in The Mummy Returns. This time
around, Director Stephen Sommers trades in one Mummy for three other
monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolfman, and the film
is all over the map. But monster switch-up aside, still on board after The Mummy Returns is Alan
Silvestri, whose over-the-top score perfectly fits the tone of this
film.
There's precious little room for subtle scoring here, and Van Helsing has everything but the
kitchen sink thrown in. The score boasts film music's best choral
writing since John Williams' The
Phantom Menace; the most excessive use of pounding drums since
Danny Elfman's Planet of the Apes;
and the incredible, building intensity of "Transylvanian Horses," which
ends in a heroic blaze of musical glory. Silvestri does a good job
saving his Van Helsing hero
theme (similarly structured to but with more satisfying a resolution
than the hero theme in Mummy Returns),
teasing us with it in little bursts before we finally hear it in all
its glory. The score also features some welcome thematic homages
(stylistically, at least) to old horror movie music clichés.
"Reunited" ends the CD with a bit of calm, and a chance for a warm
resolution of an idea touched on by the horns in earlier cues. My
favorite track, however, has to be "Journey to Transylvania," which
introduces my favorite element of the score: a wild, fast-moving
acoustic guitar.
Yes, there is a bit of sameness to the proceedings, but this music
serves the movie well, and is a fun listen on CD. I was trying to
figure out why I found Van Helsing
to be a more enjoyable score than The
Mummy Returns, which is a pretty good score in its own right. If
anything, I think it has to be the sheer intensity of the writing.
Silvestri has managed to outsize Elliot Goldenthal at his most
excessive, and that's not an easy thing to do while retaining an
artistic sensibility. -- Cary Wong
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
**
JON BRION
Hollywood 2061-62449-2
26 tracks - 57:02
Eternal Sunshine director
Michel Gondry is a contemporary of Spike Jonze, and both men have made
the transition to Hollywood from a stint directing music videos. Even
those who don't recognize Gondry's name (he spent the first part of his
career working in Europe) might be familiar with his inventive videos
for unusual artists like Björk and the White Stripes. That work is
challenging to anyone with an interest in music and film because it
reverses the usual creative order, with the music, of course, coming
first in the production process. With that in Gondry's background, I
was expecting something equally fresh from the Eternal Sunshine soundtrack.
Unfortunately, I didn't realize that composer Jon Brion (Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love) was on board. As
much as I have enjoyed Gondry, I have been disappointed by Brion since
his producing work on Aimee Mann's records in the early '90s. His
influence is clearly the Beatles of the Magical Mystery Tour and Sgt.
Pepper era, music that superficially sounds trippy and psychedelic but
is in many ways very traditional and very English in its use of brass
band arrangements. Consequently, Aimee Mann's spare songs finished up
being turned into yet another lost Beatles album, with predictable
consequences in the marketplace.
The same influences remain central to the score of Eternal Sunshine. Seventeen of the
26 tracks were written by Brion, who is also a competent
multi-instrumentalist. Some are extremely brief, but all have a cold,
almost morbid feel, dictated by the instrumentation: piano, brass and
strings treated to a lot of reverb, and, often, backwards tapes of pipe
organ or mellotron. Listeners accustomed to the style will recognize
other familiar touches, such as the slide guitar that often marked the
Beatles' and, later, George Harrison's albums.
The remaining additions to the soundtrack are a mixed bag. Some were
not used in the movie itself, such as the Electric Light Orchestra,
again replicating the Beatles circa 1967, on "Mr. Blue Sky," which was
used to good effect in the film's trailer. Others include The
Polyphonic Spree's "It's the Sun" (yet more Penny Lane trumpets) and "I
Wonder," by The Willowz, the full title of which has to be, "I wonder
how this excruciating, flat, lisping track ever made it onto this
disc?" How bad is it, you ask -- try, even worse than Jack Nicholson
crooning "La Vie en Rose" on the Something's
Gotta Give soundtrack. The other insertions are, fortunately,
of a different standard altogether: two jazz cuts from Don Nelson, one
in New Orleans style and the other in what sounds like a fake 1940s
radio broadcast, a poignant remake by Beck of the "Everybody's Gotta
Learn Sometimes" and the liveliest track of all, "Wada Na Tod" by the
Indian institution, Lata Mangeshkar.
Brion's work seems stuck in a genre and comes close to being
repetitive. Of course, if you are a Beatles fan, then this is a 3 1⁄2
star album. Others may wonder what this soundtrack might have sounded
like if Gondry had continued his collaboration with someone edgier,
like Björk. -- Andrew Kirby
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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