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Posted: |
Sep 17, 2023 - 5:34 PM
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By: |
Mr. Jack
(Member)
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I greatly enjoyed the movie, but the score was lousy. My thoughts...
-A Haunting In Venice (2023): 8/10
Famed detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh, who also directs), living in retirement from his life's work in Venice circa 1947, is enticed back into the fold by Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), a formerly successful mystery novelist whose work has been heavily inspired by their long-time friendship. Seems like there's a seance scheduled in the crumbling, gothic abode of Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly), whose young daughter tragically drowned the previous year. Now, the services of a famed psychic, Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), have been hired on Halloween night in order to commune with her daughter's restless spirit. But soon a string of deaths start to sweep through the other guests (including Jamie Dornan and wee Jude Hill, from Branagh's Belfast), and Poirot must put his rusty deductive skills to the test once again in order to suss out whether a killer lurks amongst the guests, or a more supernatural vengeance from the past is to blame.
Adapted from Agatha Christie's novel "Hallowe'en Party" by screenwriter Michael Green, A Haunting In Venice marks a striking difference to the two previous films featuring Branagh as Christie's famed detective. Shot in a narrower aspect ratio (and a notably less star-studded cast), Venice also skews away from the lush, color-drenched glamour of Murder On The Orient Express and Death On The Nile and plumbs into the kind of tasty genre pulp that Branagh's had an affinity for since the days of Dead Again and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Shot in looming, wide-angle closeups by cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos, the dank, shadowy confines of the film's setting makes for an ideal setting for murder and tension, with Branagh's use of contorted camera angles adding to the film's sense of off-kilter eeriness. And while some of the Poirot's OCD humor from the previous movies is somewhat muted here, the movie offers up plenty of twists, dark revelations and spooky, rain-swept atmosphere. The only real disappointment lies in Hildur Guonadottir's blah soundtrack. This is the kind of film Branagh's usual music maestro, Patrick Doyle (who worked on the previous two movies) would have knocked out of the park, and one wonders why his services were not retained here, unless it was a matter of scheduling or budgetary issues (this is clearly a less-expensive movie than its pair of predecessors). Other that that, it's ideal for the lead-up to next month's horror bacchanal, delivering shivery chills without a surplus of extraneous gore.
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My wife and I really enjoyed the film. I'm not sure whether it tops Branagh's Orient Express as my favorite of his Poirots, but it is definitely the most interestingly *directed* film of the three. Tons of great creative shots throughout.
I thought the score worked just fine in the film, and honestly don't understand the level of hatred it's getting (apart from the obvious and justified unhappiness that Patrick Doyle didn't get the gig). I found some low woodwind stuff early on particularly effective.
Anyhow, nothing here to make me a particular fan of Hildur's, but also nothing worthy of declaring her incapable of film scoring, IMO. There wasn't a single moment in the film where I felt the music detracted from the experience.
Yavar
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Posted: |
Sep 19, 2023 - 1:12 PM
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By: |
ddddeeee
(Member)
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I've seen this twice now. I think it's such a triumph. At first I thought the mystery itself was rather weak, but in my second viewing I was really taken by how fairly it was all played. Despite only loosely being based on a lesser novel, everything about the plot is quintessential Christie.
The smaller cast allows us to spend more time with each character. Green and Branagh effectively create most of the characters from scratch, and I was invested in each and every one and felt each actor was given their due. A handful of characters' backstories were surprisingly affecting. I love a good whodunnit, but there are always characters that could be done without - I wouldn't want to lose any of these guys. Branagh is so comfortable in the role now and is such a joy to watch. The comedy creaks in at the right times and never challenges to overall tone.
Branagh's direction and staging of each interview is excellent. Each was handled in a different way that completely complimented the content of the interview. I thought this was night-and-day compared to the comparatively repetitive and stale interviews in Orient Express. Like with Death on the Nile, I appreciate Green's ability to contrive digestible reasons for each suspect to be present (I love Christie, but the entire 'Everyone in this confined space knew the victim' is often a hard pill to swallow for me). And again, like in Nile, every character has something to do with the main theme of the movie. Nile explored love in its various guises while Venice has each character haunted by their past in very different ways. It makes the movies more cohesive than most whodunnits and, again, makes the characters feel necessary as opposed to mere chess pieces.
I wish Doyle had been along for the ride, but I'm smitten with this. It's Branagh's best movie since 1996 (and I loved Cinderella and Belfast). I'd love twenty more, but I'm happy if he ends up going on such a high. I'll be watching this every Halloween season from now on.
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Please KEEP logging in. We have missed you.
Seconded!
Yavar
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Interesting discussion.
Here we have a classically trained composer who wrotes its orchestral music by hand, that does not use a big team of assistants, does not employ additional composers or any ghostwriters, and that, stylistically, couldn´t be more far removed from the RCP style/methodology that is prevalent in Hollywood these days, and yet, her music is not appreciated by a lot of film music aficionados because of its abrasive, non accesible, and sometimes experimental tone.
I personally think that she has a personal distinct voice and brings the films she works on a unique tone and atmosphere and I find a lot of her music draws from the pool of contemporary concert music, which is great in my book.
As for the limited range... we´ll see. Nevertheless, extremely versatility is not a pre requisite for the job, believe or not. Thomas Newman and Alan Silvestri, whether electronically or orchestrally, always sound more or less the same within their own personally styles and yet what they bring to the table each time is wonderful.
If tomorrow a project comes by where Hildur feels inclined (or encouraged to) to write a big, thematic, traditionally structured symphonic score, suddenly she would be more appreciated around here?.
Lastly, as for her chops as a film composer in terms of being able to help developing the narrative or enhancing the drama, I think she is more than capable and that she actively helps the films she works on.
Joker in particular, as a film can only be fully understood because of the music, as it literally explains the character, and its psychological journey/arc. Remove the music, and the film is mortally wounded.
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I haven´t enjoyed her previous scores. But for this particular film this particular score works for me like crazy.
I believe her obstacle is expectations.
With Branagh, we expect the much loved Patrick Doyle. We already got his melodic Poirot score for "Orient Express". We also were kind of let down by his work on "Nile" (and blamed Branagh and the studio, of course). Now we see a horror mystery in Venice and think "oh, how Doyle would have done this".
But would he? I believe he would have scored this quite similar to Gudnadóttir. Because that's what Branagh had in mind for this one. Branagh did not want a sweeping traditional mystery score. And I think: that was the right decision.
So while we might not enjoy this score as much as those we are accustomed or preferring to hear, it still is a great score.
It won't hurt movie scoring at all. It won't be influential. That ship has sailed with Hans Zimmer. He is and will remain influential, for better or worse.
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20 years ago I could see Goldenthal scoring this… sigh.
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