Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you're among the vast majority that will seek the album for its easy-going collection of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald songs. Avoid it... if you expect any truly compelling drama to come from the 20+ minutes of Mark Isham's mundane score on the album's first half. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
At First Sight: (Mark Isham) Irwin Winkler's 1999 film At First Sight made the fatal mistake of trying to be both a serious examination of blindness and a sappy Hollywood love story, earning it a mediocre response from critics. Not only do the blind face a unique set of prejudices, but the few who have lived a life of darkness and are then faced with the awesome sense of sight often face significant psychological adjustments. At First Sight, based on Oliver Sacks' "To See and Not See," offers insight into just that experience. But rather than concentrate on the specifics of that curious transition, the film uses it as a tool to extend the melodrama of the love story likely deemed necessary to sell tickets. The relationship between Val Kilmer's blind masseur and Mira Sorvino's caring architect goes through all the typically ebbs and flows you'd typically expect, though it's a means of driving home the point of acceptance in a broader sense rather than actually exemplify to a normally-seeing person what it would be like to experience this radical change. Still, despite the film's clumsy attempts to explore serious territory, At First Sight ultimately generates a lovable atmosphere, and that tone is extended by Mark Isham's score for the film. Isham's ability to accentuate the sounds of Manhattan may have been well served by the composer's jazzy tendencies, but surprisingly, the composer completely ignores this avenue of possibility. The extremely conservative stature of the score is curious given the significant use of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald-performed songs written by old favorites like the Gershwins and Rodgers and Hammerstein. The film seems to take the spirit of these songs to heart, and the album release for At First Sight heavily emphasizes them, but Isham did not follow their direction. Instead, he seemed caught in the same conundrum of aimless direction that plagued the film, and it would be fair to speculate that his score may be among the reasons why At First Sight sounds so stale. That said, there's nothing technically wrong with the music. It just could have had so much more of an impact than it did. The entirety of Isham's music for At First Sight is absent of any of his jazzy roots, instead opting for an extremely conservative orchestral score dominated by sensitive, but uninspiring piano solos. The composer's love theme is generic, as are the variations that result from the troubles that the primary couple face, and the music for the blind man's confusion over his first sight is given underachieving moments of less tonal suspense. Isham intentionally chose this path, stating, "I composed music to reflect interior states. For me, to express such emotions, it's always a question of harmony and color. This could be achieved electronically or with any combination of instruments. We chose the orchestra, which is considered to have the most accessible sound, with its ability to convey the broad range of emotions within this story." Unfortunately, with an emphasis on providing themes for moments rather than characters, nebulous concepts rather than the concrete, Isham's music lacks an overarching identity. Two of its middle cues, "To Share a Feeling" and "A Seeing Journey," pick up the pace with optimistic piano rhythms and flighty woodwinds, though the remainder of the score is frightfully dull. A distantly mixed women's choir adds welcome mystery to "A Seeing Celebration" and "You Don't See Me," but their impact is minimal. A sense of cohesion starts to form by the concluding "Our Eyes Aren't What Make Us See" cue, during which the love theme starts to develop some warmth and hints of Isham's more successful scores shine through. But only twenty minutes of score material on album is too short to engage the listener, and it's the collection of songs that is far more entertaining. Isham's love theme was adapted into a loungey jazz piece for the end credits by Marilyn and Alan Bergman, with a spirit sorely lacking in the underscore. Isham's work fails to follow the emotional rollercoaster that the film strives to be, and as such, it both grounds the film with the anchor of its serious concept while also diminishing the love story. With less than 25 minutes of score on the Milan album, the score is a pleasant atmospheric listening experience, but it constantly exudes the feeling that it's underplaying its role. ** Track Listings:
Total Time: 49:25
(about 24 minutes of Isham score) All artwork and sound clips from At First Sight are Copyright © 1999, Milan Records. 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 1/29/99, updated 4/26/08. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 1999-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
