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Avalon: (Randy Newman) The third installment in
director Barry Levinson's 1980's series of films about the heritage and
people of the city of Baltimore,
Avalon was the most widely
acclaimed of the three. Born from the director's own memories of his
grandfather, the story tells the 50-year history of the Krichinsky
family, from their arrival in July of 1914 all the way through the
family's first television set and beyond. Levinson's film gained
attention through the awards season for its unapologetically nostalgic
and positive viewpoints, with the texture of America on display just as
much as the family who is adapting to it. As a close-knit familial
version of an epic,
Avalon celebrates the side of life that
shines on perfection rather than delving into hardships, and the script
relies on a hearty sense of comedy to provide relief from its nonstop
sappiness. One common criticism of
Avalon is its narrowly focused
lens on the positive, with Levinson attempting too hard to polish every
aspect of the historical depiction into a bright, friendly object. The
same criticism has been leveled against Randy Newman's score for the
film, with a highly symmetrical and fluffy score that matched the
character of the film well enough to earn the composer a somewhat rare
Academy Award nomination for 'Best Score' in a year of stiff
competition. It was yet another controversial nomination for film score
fans, because it was further evidence that the nominating members of the
Academy favored arthouse scores of lesser size and effectiveness over
popular mainstream blockbusters simply because of the fact that the
arthouse film was in style at the moment. Rather than providing a score
with any true character, distinct identity, or ethnic flavor, Newman
wrote a very conservative, light-hearted Americana score for the equally
heart-warming film.
The lack of any ethnic elements to represent the
origins of the family in the story tells us that Newman was looking at
the picture from the sole perspective of America, while Levinson did
offer up cultural clashes in the story. Perhaps Newman simply chose to
ignore the obvious method of transforming traditional Russian music into
the delightful Americana style we have come to expect from him, though
the cynical listeners may claim that Newman was incapable of writing a
score more complex than the one he provided. Indeed, his music for
Avalon seems overly simplistic for a journey of this magnitude,
never developing his thematic material from the opening bars through the
end titles statement. Is this a mistake in construct or a representation
of a family's devotion to their shared heritage? On album, the question
is moot, for the score is a pleasant and undemanding series of piano and
woodwind performances over whimsical strings, always on a small scale
and residing firmly in the "tender" category. While this approach in and
of itself is non-offensive at every moment, it also causes the score to
bore the listener by its conclusion (even though the album is only 37
minutes in length). There are short moments of flair, such as in two
cues relating to the television, when the whole orchestral ensemble
explodes into rhythm and theme worthy of Newman's
Parenthood. A
carnival march in "Circus" is a significant distraction and reminder of
Newman's more flamboyant animation scores. But without fail, Newman
returns to the soft waltz rhythms that define the family, and by the end
titles, Newman has rotated the performances of the theme through solo
violin, trumpet, and piano so many times that you wonder if any time has
passed in the film at all. The intimacy of the score is harmed in a few
places by a distant recording quality and occasional instances of studio
noise. Additionally, the album has been a rarity since the label cut the
product in the 1990's, leaving
Avalon as a suspect item for which
to search. Newman has accomplished better both before and after, despite
his Oscar nomination here.
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| Bias Check: | For Randy Newman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.06 (in 17 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.11
(in 20,737 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
