Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you like scores that blow away your expectations, for A.R. Rahman has stormed into America for his first Hollywood assignment and provided an undeniably fun and spirited score that infinitely outshines the quality of the film for which it was written. Avoid it... if you're uncomfortable with surprisingly unique scores that liberally blend several cultural styles into a melting pot of sonic creativity, even if the overall result is remarkably effective in its thematic continuity. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Couples Retreat: (A.R. Rahman) A precarious and not always successful balance between comedy and drama didn't stop the Vince Vaughn written and acted 2009 film Couples Retreat from attracting enough audiences searching for a few laughs to send it into the hundreds of millions of dollars in gross earnings. First time director Peter Billingsley couldn't reconcile the comedy and drama halves of the film to satisfy critics, though, most of whom ultimately admitting their desire for more of the silly laughs. The story follows a familiar formula for a tropical party atmosphere, detailing four couples from America who sign up for a therapeutic vacation to the island of Eden (presumably in French Polynesia's Bora Bora), each seeking to learn more about themselves, their partner, and their relationship along the road to overcoming the sometimes impossible odds of their pairings. The pressure on each couple is extensively established before the film even gets to the paradise, where character actor performances and ridiculous situations lead to the film's few comedic triumphs. The battle between serious dramatic romance and plain immaturity, as well as a rushed and contrived ending, ultimately sank the film for many viewers. But at least Universal took a chance on the idea, something that especially applied to the choice of composer for the film. It's difficult to fathom that Indian sensation Allah Rakha Rahman, the foremost composer of his nation's movie industry, has never helmed a score for a strictly American production. While Couples Retreat may seem like an extremely odd assignment to represent Rahman's official entry into Hollywood, it actually makes quite a lot of sense. Not only did the composer storm the Academy Awards this past year (with two wins for Slumdog Millionaire), but he has spent his career bridging Western and Indian sounds, a technique that would prove useful in creating an ethnically diverse atmosphere for the tropical location of Couples Retreat. After meeting with Universal, Rahman was approved to work on the film, taking advantage of the opportunity to go wild with the creativity of his handling of the topic. Clearly, Rahman "overthought" this film, providing for it an extremely intelligent blend of no less than three cultural elements. Not only does he merge the sounds of a Western orchestra and Latin band, but he also cleverly infuses some Hindustani elements that will certainly please longtime collectors of the composer's extensive Indian accomplishments. Rahman enters an American industry in which conservative predictability in music is rewarded with awards or future similar assignments, and both the concurrent box office hits 2012 and A Christmas Carol testify in favor of this fact. It's rare that a ho-hum film that fits many of the usual patterns of its genre receives a score bursting at the seams with personality. Couples Retreat could easily have benefited from a pretty, little orchestral score with a few flamenco accents. Rahman starts with this format as his launching point to a far more entertaining score than anyone could have expected to hear, though. His ensemble isn't remarkable in terms of its size; the Los Angeles group won't overwhelm you with power. But Rahman's employment of vocal and instrumental accents from cultures spanning the world is one ingredient to this score's success. The other is the inherent enthusiasm that overflows from the mix of all of those elements. The composer also retains thematic integrity throughout the score, nurturing two extremely affable themes of convincing sincerity. The first is the "Jason and Cynthia" theme, resembling Craig Armstrong's Love Actually and highlighted in the two tracks containing the "Jason and Cynthia" title (and "The Waterfall"). Expressed by acoustic guitar, piano and eventually a lush ensemble (as much as the number of performers would allow) in both cues, this theme is as redemptive as any light drama or comedy identity to come from an orchestra in the past few years. It isn't as syrupy as what the foremost British composers might produce, but it avoids the pitfalls of parody that many American composers would have tripped up on here. It almost resembles the best of David Newman's work for the genre. For orchestral purists, "Jason and Cynthia Piano Theme" leaves behind all of the multi-cultural embellishments and is as conservatively lovely as any theme for a score in the genre. The other theme in Couples Retreat is the more overtly tropical and thus flavorful idea for the island of Eden, heard first in teased fragments at the end of "Jason and Cynthia Suite" but in full at the start of "Tour of the Villas" and reprised in both "The Waterfall" and (closing the score) in "Animal Spirits." Rahman's use of a flute to both carry the tune of this theme and as counterpoint is a lovely touch in every circumstance. The explosive exuberance of this theme in the buoyantly Latin portion of "Animal Spirits" is infectious to a fault; if the first two minutes of that cue doesn't get your ass wiggling in your seat, then get your pulse checked. The same statement of infectious quality could be made of several parts of Couples Retreat, though the concluding cue is about as fun as anything heard on screen in 2009. Outside of the two primary themes, Rahman takes his creativity into a number of singular score cues and a pair of songs. The first of the unique score cues is the one representing the spiritual character of Marcel, who not only runs the resort but is played by Jean Reno. Rahman originally intended to use samples of the gruff voice of Reno for use in his score, and it's unclear if any such recordings made it into "Meeting Marcel." The synthetic keyboarding, vocal shades, percussion, and native flute in the first half of this cue remind of James Horner's Vibes, while the second half is an intriguing combination of John Ottman's bass string chopping (for his numerous horror scores) and the masculine choral and string classicism of a melodramatic and grave stature typical to Hans Zimmer. Rahman goes into near waltz territory with "Itinerary," with playful bass string rhythms not unlike Rachel Portman's comedies and a reprise of Marcel's theme in heavier tones later on. Both "Undress" and "Sharks" represent the score's most stylistically foreign or challenging tones, and most American listeners will find limited merit in them. The use of the ghatam percussion instrument of South India in the former connects back to Rahman's comfort zone. The composer's choppy string rhythm for "Sharks" adheres to cliche perhaps too much, though the cue does end on a spectacular, elongated note with varied Indian vocals. The "Salvadore" cue is truly original, merging Latin gypsy tones with a Hindustani Tarana (an Indian song of elation). The vocal performances by Kailash Kher and Vijay Prakash in this cue, along with acoustic guitar and clapping effects, are strangely intoxicating. The most ethereal cue in Couples Retreat is "Intervention," in which the melodramatic tones of Marcel's identity are merged with simply lovely male and female vocals, mixed at a slight distance and with a fair amount of reverb to give them the stereotypical (but still highly effective) "haunting" effect. Throughout all of these cues, the application of each instrument is extremely well handled in the score. Along with the aforementioned flute, Rahman also uses percussion expertly in the score. Timpani exists in a central role (as in "Animal Spirits"), light metallic tones add swooshes of romance to the air, and a few gong hits accompany Marcel's material to match the on screen source-like usage. The electronic elements in the score, usually taking the form of sampled rhythms of light coolness, are integrated with skill. It's difficult to tell at times if the clapping effects typical to Rahman's career are synthetic. The calypso, reggae, and other Latin elements are as pleasant as ever. Even the songs will likely be palatable for film score collectors. Aside from "Luau," both "Sajna" and "NaNa" were written by Rahman and fit well with the rest of the album release. The melody of "Sajna" doubles as the theme for the island in the score, bringing continuity to its softly romantic performance over the end titles. Despite a much hyped recording of a phrase from this song by Vince Vaughn (something that was rumored even long before the film went into production), this performance is not included on the album. Functioning like a song for some listeners is "Kurukuru Kan," perhaps the closest portion of the score to Rahman's previous mannerisms; it's also a chance for his collectors to hear Rahman lend his vocal talents to the soundtrack (along with the sounds of a few chirping birds). The mixing of each of Rahman's layers of unusual instrumentation and vocals allows all of them to flourish. Together, his various pieces of song and score material for Couples Retreat may play like they traverse the world erratically and might seem, on the surface, to yield an incohesive listening experience. What draws everything together in this soundtrack is Rahman's enduring enthusiasm and unique voice. Not only does this score take ethnic chances like few from Hollywood or Europe, but the composer conveys all of his unconventional ideas without losing his sense of humor and amiable spirit. This film deserved far less than this kind of effort, and while it may be rather short and ethnically wild, you have to admire how different this music is from the drab, everyday muck produced for the big screen in today's "play it safe" studio environment. Expect the unexpected, with the exception of some track rearrangement for your listening experience. Rahman fans will love Couples Retreat and detractors will expose their cynicism. If only the orchestral ensemble had a bit more depth and the album offered more than about half an hour of this truly fun score, this might have received the most surprising five-star rating of any score this decade. If this is what he offers for a badly underachieving Vince Vaughn comedy, then someone please help Rahman find a great place to set up a recording studio in Los Angeles so we can hear him give the Americans due competition in their own neighborhood! **** Track Listings:
Total Time: 44:55
* alternately titled "The Luau" on some of the packaging All artwork and sound clips from Couples Retreat are Copyright © 2009, Relativity Music Group. 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 11/20/09, updated 11/20/09. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2009-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
