Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you relax to Thomas Newman's contemplative tones and seek a subdued variation on his emotional orchestral writing for The Shawshank Redemption and Meet Joe Black. Avoid it... if you expect the thematic quality of either of the above scores or the convincingly spirited ambience for the South that he conveyed in Fried Green Tomatoes. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The Green Mile: (Thomas Newman) You can't blame director Frank Darabont for trying to pull magical water from the same well in consecutive films, but many aspects of his 1999 film The Green Mile suffer because of their relative similarities to The Shawshank Redemption. Darabont's only two films at the time, both entries are adaptations of Stephen King stories that take place in prisons. Both rely on individual acting performances and dark shades of gray. And both also pull the strings in Thomas Newman's ensemble to provide the emotional core of the film. The Newman score for The Shawshank Redemption is a work that ranges from strong to outstanding, a nearly perfect fit for its picture in most places. When you watch and listen to The Green Mile, however, you get the feeling of deja vu, and you also get a sense that Newman couldn't quite translate his hopeful, regenerative score for the previous film into a sacrificial religious setting this time around. In The Green Mile, a massive black man falsely convicted and sentenced to die for killing two girls transforms his fellow prison inmates and warden through a supernatural power of healing. An allegory for the life of Jesus Christ, the story leads an exploration of character and faith to the inevitable, sorrowful conclusion. Newman was often presented with scoring assignments that allow him some kind of redemptive or triumphant statement of theme in his better known works of the 1990's, including The Shawshank Redemption, Meet Joe Black, and Little Women. But Newman was never known for his memorable development of themes, and this tendency becomes a significant flaw in The Green Mile. This is a score that has all the makings of a great Newman effort, but it never really completes its own journey. The side of his talent that is engaged at full steam in The Green Mile is his ability to recreate the sounds of a local setting --especially in the American South-- with remarkable ease. His touch for capturing the essence of a setting is perhaps his strongest talent, and the employment of that ability will save the score for some listeners. The most spirited parts of The Green Mile will remind you of the enjoyable flavor heard in Fried Green Tomatoes, with Newman pulling out all of his usual specialty instruments to provide a convincing texture. And yet, for a film that has been criticized for trying too hard, Newman's score for The Green Mile, in relation to his work for The Shawshank Redemption, might make you deduce the Newman was not trying hard enough this time. With the mass of percussion and use of genre songs, Newman does his expected superb job of capturing the area of the film's setting once again. But beyond these elements, the score for The Green Mile lacks that which elevated Fried Green Tomatoes: spirit. There simply is no identifiable musical soul for either of the film's main characters, which is awkward considering the highly personal nature of the story. Perhaps Newman's non-thematic writing style contributes to the absence of personality in this music. Or perhaps the missing link exists because of an album that plays far too long without any coherent center to hold the music in place. Like the score in its entirety, the final title track simply slows to a halt, without memorable theme or announcement, fading into nothingness. In the end, the lack of genuine spirit leaves the score as merely an average listening experience. Individual parts of the score are worth mentioning, including the typical plucked string rhythms from Newman for the mouse. Two action cues are highlighted by the ambitiously brutal snare and brass rhythm in "The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix." As with other Newman albums, period songs break up the continuity of his work, and the insertion of "Charmaine" near the emotional climax of the score, what little of it there is, is extremely unfortunate. Other songs, such as those performed by Fred Astaire and Billie Holliday, are vital to the film and are better placed earlier in the album. Overall, there is nothing awe-inspiring about The Green Mile, and little in its meandering and unsure pacing for 75 minutes will compete with Newman's more famous efforts. *** Track Listings:
Total Time: 74:34
All artwork and sound clips from The Green Mile are Copyright © 1999, Warner Brothers. 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 12/20/99, updated 8/25/07. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 1999-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
