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Beltrami's action style isn't that far removed from Goldsmith's, especially all the changing meters and his fondness for 7/8.
I agree, and this cue mentioned ("This is the Beginning"), with its relentless snare rhythms and heroic strings and brass, sounds like something Goldsmith might have written for an action/adventure scene in something like The 13th Warrior or Timeline.
I do think that most of the rest of Snowpiercer does not sound like Goldsmith.
"This is the Beginning" is one of my favorite cues of 2014.
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I felt the presence of Jerry G quite keenly during parts of this film, which I have to say was nice. 
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Posted: |
Jan 8, 2015 - 5:51 AM
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By: |
bobbengan
(Member)
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*SPOILER ALERT! DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM BUT INTEND TO!!!*
I LOVED this film personally, flaws notwithstanding: The ingenuity of the concept, the world it creates, the totally bizarre and all-over-the-map characterizations and performances, the production design, the intensity - There's so much to love here that I can forgive the less-than-perfect elements at play, which are not without consideration and acknowledgement.
Anyway. I want to speak though for a moment on Beltrami's music and a pivotal role it plays at the end.
For the most part, I actually don't think it's a very remarkable score: It's all over the place in a way that lacks congruity or thematic through line for me and feels at times a bit out of place.
Until the ending - I'm talking the VERY ending.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
The Snowpiercer crashes and is totally destroyed (unscored, wisely). We can infer most people aboard the Snowpiercer are dead, though perhaps not necessarily ALL of them. Anyway, our lead characters are totally killed off in those final moments, having sacrificed themselves to form a shield from the explosion with their bodies around the two younger characters.
These younger characters, for the first time in their lives, step out of the derailed train and into the snow, having NEVER been outside before and looking a little vertigo-stricken at first as a result. I don't know where the five-year-old boy found a fluffy coat that's perfect for his size, but I digress (again, it's not a perfect film).
For a second, as the damage is surveyed (unscored), everything is looking pretty damn bleak. Then they see a polar bear from afar, who seems to stare back at them (perhaps "hungrily", perhaps not). Either way, it's enough to tell us that life has found a way to endure outside the train against all odds. Some light strings and piano sneak is, hinting at a small glimmer of hope musically. Timpani broils for a moment, then there's silence for a few frames as we cut to black.
Then suddenly out of nowhere, Beltrami lets rip with a propulsive, snare-driven rhythm setter of almost Western bravado ("This is the Beginning") as the credits begin.
This is a GREAT piece of musical storytelling: Had Beltrami scored that moment in any other way, it might have told us that humanity was irrevocably doomed, that all was lost. Instead, his MUSIC tells us that despite the world-class ass-kicking humanity just endured, we might just stand a chance after all in this new beginning.
That isn't told in voice over, in dialogue, even in the young actors' performance really. Even the final symbolic image of the bear staring down at them from atop the mountainside is up for debate as to whether is truly stands for hope or not.
It's the MUSIC on the hard cut to black tells us the future, against all odds, looks bright.
That's great musical storytelling, people, of a rare and high order, and I had to acknowledge this moment as being an incredibly intelligent example of how music can work as a storytelling tool, rather than as wallpaper to "fill the gaps".
Good show, Beltrami. Good show.
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