Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you consistently enjoy Rachel Portman's base orchestral style and wish to hear it with a distinct Chinese flavor not heard in her other efforts. Avoid it... if the basic monothematic style of Portman's work is too similar in any instrumentation or performance for you distinguish as noteworthy. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The Joy Luck Club: (Rachel Portman) Vaulting to great heights immediately upon its release, Amy Tan's best-selling 1989 novel was destined for similar success in the arthouse film industry. With extraordinary care given to the authenticity of Chinese culture, The Joy Luck Club is, on the surface, a tender tale of a group of Chinese-American women in San Francisco who get together once a week and play mah jong. These gatherings, though, are an opportunity for their children and grandchildren, as well as the audience, to hear fascinating stories about the histories of their families. In flashbacks, their lifestyles in China come alive and awaken the audience to the intricate social structures of China and how those lifestyles have evolved in America. It is a film with a heart that is saturated with women's issues, and thus, it wasn't surprising to see director Wayne Wang allow Rachel Portman into this delicate process. At the time of the film's release in 1993, Portman was not yet recognized internationally as a foremost female composer, with only a substantial amount of British television scoring and a handful of arthouse films to her known credits. When you look back at her involvement in a film as pretty and well-mannered as The Joy Luck Club, the fit seems absolutely perfect. But when the film was released to critical success, Portman went through an immediate phase of being discovered by Hollywood... a process that would be affirmed the following year with her most quoted work, Only You. It could be speculated that only her relative anonymity in 1993 (along with a strong field of competition) kept her from her first Academy Award nomination that year. Nevertheless, listeners noticed and identified with her fluid, sensitive style for The Joy Luck Club, a score that would establish her very consistent, monothematic tendencies while also utilizing authentic Chinese instruments in such a way that Portman fans would not hear over her style in the next ten years. In the sense that Rachel Portman's music for lovable character stories all begins to sound alike after the third cue of each score, The Joy Luck Club is really no different. As film score fans, you either fall in love with it or you don't. The tone of the score is pleasant, the emotions are subtle, and her themes have a touch of bittersweet sadness. This score marked the beginning of the deep, orchestral romance --not in a lurid, Hollywood sort of way, but rather in a cultural and familial fashion-- heard especially in the simple themes for strings that Portman would litter her subsequent scores with. While the overall style and primary theme is consistent with later scores, there are a few differences between The Joy Luck Club and Portman's other works that, for some listeners, makes this score a superior listen. First, the use of an erhu and other traditional Chinese instruments is a departure for Portman, whose orchestral ensembles are typically unvaried. The erhu in particular works well with Portman's thematic sensibilities, fitting in as yet another variation of string sound in her string-dominated atmosphere. Also of note in The Joy Luck Club is the solo trumpet, something that Portman uses sparingly in her scores, but is often warmly embraced as another welcome variation from her norm (in, for instance, The Legend of Bagger Vance). A solo flute provides additional flavor in several cues. Unlike some of Portman's scores, there are no outstanding cues in The Joy Luck Club that stand out in her career; the single theme and several sub-theme motifs are nothing very refreshing to hear from the composer, but the consistency of the slightly elevated orchestral presence --along with the solos-- is what distinguishes The Joy Luck Club. Never spectacular, it is always better than average, and the album provides a perfect length (45 minutes) of music from the film before becoming too repetitive to enjoy. Many people hold this score dear to their hearts because it was their first Portman experience --a sound very new at the time-- and when placed in context with the film, the music is still outstanding. **** Track Listings:
Total Time: 44:01
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