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I saw Gone Girl yesterday. I think it's Fincher at his best - Zodiac - The Game - Fight Club Fincher. It's not only an exceedingly well-crafted thriller, but it also contains a good deal to mull over about how we present ourselves to people we are close to and how the social media manipulates reality. It also has several self-aware "meta" jokes - it's a very sly satire.
This is easily the best of the three scores Reznor and Ross have created for Fincher. It's more of a brilliant soundscape though - I'm not sure how well it will play as a stand-alone score. It snakes along through practically the whole movie, including a serene yet off-kilter romantic theme (and, yes, there literally is a sugar storm in this film), and a queasy sense of dread especially during scenes set at a lake house.
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In a way, the "spa music" reminded me a bit of Donaggio's appropriation of Tangerine Dream's Risky Business music, if that makes any sense. In Gone Girl, it's so at odds with the mood of the movie that it's extremely unsettling. The lake house music the previous poster was discussing was madness in the movie, but if I'm listening to the right track on the album (these titles sometimes...), it loses much of its power as a standalone piece of music.
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Can't stop thinking about this film. Definitely unsettling....and rich in amusing details as well:
* Ben Affleck commenting that he feels like he's in an episode of "Law and Order" when he's being questioned at the police station. He then "do do do do"s the L&O music.
* Another "meta" joke: Kim Dickens, playing the investigating detective, is examining a room and then holds up an envelope as she says, "I think we have our first clue." Written on the envelope: "Clue One."
* Dickens and her cop partner Patrick Fugit go to question an informant at an abandoned shopping mall (or some sort of large derelict building) crawling with dopers and rambling-at-their-mouths unfortunates. The way Fincher stages it put me in mind of the Cathedral scenes from Logan's Run.
* This film actually uses the trope of an adult who must live in the shadow of idealized children's books written about her by her parents...and takes it to its logical next steps. More meta-fiction ensues that we need to be careful to separate from reality.
* We even get a stoical pet cat who gazes at everything with feline indifference. Affleck even "lampshades" this at one point.
* Tyler Perry delivered the biggest belly laugh with his succinct summing up of Affleck's and Rosamund Pike's characters.
* The runner-up laugh came from Carrie Coon's (playing Affleck's, get this, twin sister) suggestion as to what 5th anniversary "wood" gift Affleck can give Pike.
I hope people going to this movie don't view it as a completely "straight" thriller - it certainly is thrilling and clever, but I also think the far-fetched nature of the plot should be seen as one of the many "quote marks" found throughout the film. It just might be the best satire of the year.
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Posted: |
Oct 4, 2014 - 3:34 PM
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By: |
MikeP
(Member)
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Saw Gone Girl yesterday. I think it's Fincher at his best - Zodiac - The Game - Fight Club Fincher. It's not only an exceedingly well-crafted thriller, but it also contains a good deal to mull over about how we present ourselves to people we are close to and how the social media manipulates reality. It also has several self-aware "meta" jokes - it's a very sly satire.
This is easily the best of the three scores Reznor and Ross have created for Fincher. It's more of brilliant soundscape though - I'm not sure how well it will play as a stand-alone score. It snakes along through practically the whole movie, including a serene yet off-kilter romantic theme (and, yes, there literally is a sugar storm in this film), and a queasy sense of dread especially during scenes set at a lakehouse.
I like Fincher at his Zodiac / Seven best, but for me, The Game and especially Fight Club are Fincher at his least interesting ( yep, I said it, I hated, hated hated Fight Club  ).
The score...well, still at this point having only heard samples I AM interested. Some of the track samples are very interesting, some not so much. My appetites for ambient electronic are more towards Tangerine Dream ( although they are rarely ambient ) and maybe Steve Roach or "space music" in that vein.
Reznor and Ross might be fine industrial ( that's what you call NIN right, industrial ? ) musicians but am still not convinced they know what they're doing around a movie score  That's where TSN failed for me, it felt like the composers had no idea how to accent a film. Dragon Tattoo was a step up, but still nothing I'd listen to outside the film. And now, Gone Girl's samples DO sound like they're moving in the right direction.
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I go along with Mark R.Y.--it's a pretty terrific film that utterly justifies it's 2 1/2 hour length. Aside from Affleck and Pike doing career best work in their parts, this has to be one of the most solid casts since Sidney Pollack's THE FIRM. I never would have believed I would have enjoyed Tyler Perry this much, and I even would stick up for Neil Patrick Harris who is, I think, being unfairly called out as the weak link in the cast.
The Reznor/Ross score fits the film like a glove. Sure, it might not be everyone's standalone-listen-cup-of-tea, but it sure nails the tone of the film perfectly. A standard score might have curdled this extremely acidic look at a very specific marriage (although I would be curious to hear what someone like David Shire might have done with this in his CONVERSATION/ZODIAC mode.)
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Can't stop thinking about this film. Definitely unsettling....and rich in amusing details as well:
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Enuf about GG.
i AM STILL WAITING FOR YOUR review of UNDER THE SKIN
LOL!
seriously
bruce
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Great review, I agree completely.
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Saw the film earlier today and have to say that the score definitely works, creating a mood and atmosphere which efficiently supports the movie. Also, I have to say that much of it is music I could enjoy on album. Never thought I'd say these things.
Loved the film as well. Knew nothing about the plot which definitely helps.
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Posted: |
Oct 19, 2014 - 3:55 PM
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By: |
MikeP
(Member)
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Finally caught the movie today, and found a few spots where the score works great, while the rest is just kinda...there.
The sugar storm cue works great, really supporting the screen action. That is the most effective cue in the movie. There were two other score cues which, like in Dragon Tattoo, seemed to channel Tangerine Dream. These stood out to me of course, being a huge TD fan, and for me these worked very well ( but again... just hire TD or license the album tracks these cues resembled most ).
The rest seemed devoted to bland mood pieces which might have a rumble of danger here or there, but never really does anything to help the film at all.
We don't know what discussions took place with the director and composers, but Fincher does seem to just prefer ambient sound design as opposed to any real emotional scoring. He may well have said "look guys, just give me some vaguely eerie electronic tones , that is all I need ".
James Newton Howard might have been able to deliver a good electronic score. His Michael Collins was a great chilly synth effort which accented the drama and characters onscreen, something the scores from Fincher's team just don't do.
It still just feels - unless it is by request - that these guys simply can't support a film with dramatic scoring. And the less said about the end titles music the better
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My CD of this arrived yesterday from Amazon. It appears that everyone who pre-ordered it there received it yesterday, but it was then immediately removed from Amazon's stock. Very strange. The only copies available now are used, yet it shows the album having been released in February of this year.
The official release date has moved around a couple of times, but I believe it's down for next week. We'll see what happens.
At least those of us who pre-ordered it got lucky.
Enjoying listening to it on CD. Exceptionally effective score, reminiscent at times of the kind of sound Fincher got from Howard Shore in THE GAME.
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