Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you reliably relax to Jerry Goldsmith's tender, fluid, and easy comedy and light drama scores despite inevitable familiarity with the themes and instrumentation. Avoid it... if you seek Goldsmith's comedy and drama tones separately at their finest and have no interest in hearing a balancing act that leaves both sounds lukewarm. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Angie: (Jerry Goldsmith) In a feature film that was originally set to have starred Madonna as the title character, Angie takes Geena Davis instead on a wild ride from New York comedy to larger plains of American melodrama. Adapted from Avra Wing's novel "Angie, I Says," Todd Graff's script is executed on the big screen by director Martha Coolidge, whose involvement with the project would have seemed appropriate given her well-received work on another "woman's coming of age" film, the highly acclaimed Rambling Rose. Unfortunately for Coolidge, Angie was met with indifference by both critics and audiences because of its inherent flaw in regards to the indecision about which direction to take the film in relation to its genre. The first half of the film is a very funny, sassy, almost sitcom-style comedy, taking viewers on a journey of relational problems with considerable New York flavor. The latter half of the film is much more heavy-handed on the dramatic front, exploring far deeper issues than the first half could have possibly foreshadowed. It is this twist of focus that either soured the lighthearted mood or saved you from it, and in either case, the wandering focus was destined to doom the picture. Coolidge claims that she believed the task of writing original music for Angie would be a difficult one, perhaps because of the presence of these two contrasting styles in one film. Composer Jerry Goldsmith, however, seemed to have the ability to step up to that challenge. The breadth of productivity in the early 1990's were the ultimate proof of the veteran composer's versatility, with sensitivity for smaller films flowing steadily from his pen in the early years of that decade. A careful balancing the comedy and dramatic elements in Angie was accomplished by Goldsmith, some would say, though the need to walk the tightrope between both attitudes means that the score doesn't really excel in either its comedy or drama tones. Regardless of the pickle that the film's wayward direction put the composer into, the final identity that Goldsmith afforded Angie does exude a great amount of charm and affection, so much so that it actually becomes tedious after half an hour when heard outside of context. The consistency with which Goldsmith expresses his identities in Angie is the make or break point for the composer's collectors seeking an escape into this pleasant diversion. A delightful melody for the title character inhabits the entire score, with variations bubbling up from light rhythms in the first half to melodramatic strings and vintage Hans Zimmer-like keyboarding in the latter portions. The introduction of "Angie's Theme" is done in almost a child-like manner, perhaps representing the character before her "growing up" experiences that occur later in the film. This affable theme is delicately played by accordion, piano, Henry Mancini-style strings, and electric bass with a faint waltz-like rhythm. In subsequent tracks, this theme is put through a more jovial Italian rendition (for the title character's Italian boyfriend), placing the previous, French sensibilities of the title theme in a somewhat awkward ethnic position. Goldsmith's synthesized elements tingle over the top of the mix as they almost always did at the time, though these electronic loops keep a low profile throughout much of the score. Outside of the rhythmic "Family Life" cue, one that shares many traits with Rachel Portman's upbeat comedy writing, the score relies firmly upon very low-key, nearly solo performances of melody. As the film takes a turn towards more serious topics when the title character ventures on a search for her long lost mother (in "The Journey Begins"), the score uses the minimal power of its partial ensemble to generate some substantive worry and doubt, aided by some synthetic pace-setters familiar to the concurrent The Shadow. Several minutes of bland atmospheric suspense, led by "The Prognosis," are unfortunate. A solo trumpet is given the task of representing the wandering spirit of the character, although the lack of power in these cues, which were seemingly written to be melodramatic, causes them to fall short due to rather tepid performance depth. When you stand back and look at Angie as a whole, you almost wish that the comedy was more spirited and the drama more weighty, even though the director likely advised Goldsmith to keep as even a keel as possible between the two halves. On album, Angie is a short, fluid, and easy listening experience, but the composer has written better comedy and better drama separately in other far better scores, leaving this entry as a shadow of the composer's more successful works. ** Track Listings:
Total Time: 34:36
All artwork and sound clips from Angie are Copyright © 1994, Varèse Sarabande. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 6/1/98, updated 11/1/11. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 1998-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
