Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you would be interested in a technically accurate homage to the style of film scores in high dramas from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Avoid it... if you expect any sense of warmth or heart in an otherwise accurate, but clinical sound. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The Good German: (Thomas Newman) With mixed results, director Steven Soderbergh has attempted to make the ultimate tribute to film noir style. In adapting a recent book by Joseph Kanon, The Good German portrays the chaos in Berlin immediately after the end of World War II, with a popular journalist caught in a triangle of intrigue and suspense involving both the Russians and Americans. The elements of the twisted love story, as well as the larger ethical and political issues addressed by the film, play a secondary role to Soderbergh's attempt to perfectly adapt the picture into such a style that it looks and sounds as though it was filmed in the mid-40's. All the equipment used to film The Good German is genuine to the era, with great pains made to even develop all the Berlin sets in Los Angeles, as per the custom of the time. Visually, the film's noir style proved convincing for nearly everyone despite the wrong aspect ratio of the shooting and, quite inescapably, the nudity and profanity that wouldn't have been allowed in 40's Hollywood. Unfortunately, the film has been a catastrophic failure, earning only $1 million in its first few months of a very limited release that never expanded to a wide release as quickly as expected. Weak character development is most commonly blamed for this failure, though an interesting debate continues about whether or not modern audiences' expectations can be met using noir stylings alone. The lack of warmth in the characters of the story is directly reflected by Thomas Newman's almost clinical score for the film. Given his lineage, Newman is not only a competent choice for this project, but a sentimental one as well. His instructions from the filmmakers are blatantly obvious: produce a score that would feel at home in 1945, an homage to the Golden Age of Hollywood that would perfectly match the style of the project's visuals. And to that end, Newman partially succeeds. He uses an ensemble of the regular studio performers of today's era and arranges them in a very conservative fashion, without any of the progressive flair or sonic inventiveness that you often hear in his more recent styles. Collectors of Golden Age film music will hear many familiar techniques in Newman's recording, but you'll also note that some of the film's flaws carry over to the music as well. In a very technical sense, from the tones of the orchestration to the relationship between melody and staggered baselines, Newman offers a score that will remind significantly of the works of Franz Waxman and Miklós Rózsa. In both the robust title music (which in traditional fashion blasts into the score immediately and sends you off with its similar performance at the end) and the whimsical love theme variant, Newman captures the technical ambience of the era well. Subtleties and modern complexity are jettisoned for a score that has few reminders of its own composer's dominant style. Only in "Kraut Brain Trust" do some of Newman's quirky, sharp string rhythms betray the Golden Age sensibilities, and, for his collectors, this cue may very well be a highlight of the entire project. The only variation instrumentally is a faint mandolin that occasionally contributes in a marginal mix (as in "A Nazi and a Jew"). A hint of early Bernard Herrmann stylings exists in the latter portions of the title theme, and is quite enjoyable in "Kurfurtendamm." The overarching problem with Newman's score, however, is the total lack of warmth that it radiates for its own love story. Similarly slighted is the passion of the post-war locale. True Golden Age scores sometimes lack personal resonance with modern listeners simply because of their archival sound. But Newman's score is crystal clear (though in a very dry mix, also true to the aged sound of the era), and it still lacks convincing warmth. The film has been criticized heavily for not asking you care about its characters, and in these regards, Newman doesn't do much to help either. There is nothing as engrossing in the high string flourishes of the love theme or dramatic brass statements as Waxman or Rózsa's similar efforts, making one wonder if Newman placed the same excruciating emphasis on technicality as Soderbergh, forgetting the depth of a more romantic personality that often served as the allure of Golden Age works. With stylings as authentic in movement as those that Newman did provide for The Good German, however, it's easy to hear why he was nominated for an Academy Award (the film's only one) for the effort. But the score remains cold at heart, and while it's certainly an interesting listening experience on album, it doesn't involve you emotionally to the degree that you would hope. *** Track Listings:
Total Time: 44:26
All artwork and sound clips from The Good German are Copyright © 2007, 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 2/9/07, updated 2/10/07. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2007-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
