 |
|
| Horner |
|
|
Once Around: (James Horner) Along with several other
films that attempted the same perspective on the family genre in the late
1980's and early 1990's,
Once Around is a story about a dysfunctional
family that, like so many in real life, is not really meant to be
understood. That was the problem with
Once Around in retrospect: who
wants to watch a film about a family with all of its real life problems when
most of us can go to our parents' houses on any given holiday and witness
the same trauma firsthand? In this case, the weight of the film's success is
carried by a cast consisting of Holly Hunter, Danny Aiello, and Richard
Dreyfuss. It was the first American feature by Sweden's Lasse Hallstrom,
director of 1987's critically acclaimed
My Life as a Dog. The funny
factor that made the 1987 film a success is largely absent from
Once
Around, contributing to its demise. Composer James Horner's name was in
flashier letters on much bigger screens in 1991, and yet he took the time to
provide a short contribution for a genre that his peers were also dabbling
in. Whether it was John Williams working on
The Accidental Tourist
and
Stanley & Iris, or Jerry Goldsmith working on
Not Without my Daughter, the
family genre seemed to be an alluring idea for not just filmmakers, but
composers as well. For Horner,
Once Around would turn out to be
similar to his later work on
Swing Kids in that the attention on the
music was definitely placed first and foremost on outside, adapted material.
It just so happens that, like in
Swing Kids, the wider jazz genre is
the source for much of the music heard in
Once Around. Unlike the
disappointing way in which he handled
Swing Kids, however, Horner
does adapt his own original material into a vintage, big band jazz cue for
Once Around, proving that his singular jazz era piece in
Field of
Dreams wasn't just a fluke.
Horner's contribution in underscore to
Once Around
is not that great in length; only 20 minutes of his recordings made it onto
album, and even at running time, the repetition is notable. Lightly
orchestral in its majority, the four major cues are dominated by "Big Band
on Ice," the big band jazz piece that opens the album and serves as the only
true highlight for fans looking for any music that'll get the pulse
pounding. Three other cues are soft, lovable Horner underscore at its most
sensitive, with warm and fuzzy feelings at every moment. A light electronic
choir lends a bit of magic to a score otherwise defined by piano, solo
woodwind, and small grouping of strings. Prevalent in all four of Horner's
score cues are two themes he weaves into nearly every moment; in fact, one
of the more interesting aspects of
Once Around is to hear these
delicate pieces pumped up and adapted into the opening jazz cue. The major
problem with these two themes is the extremely obvious fact that they are
both rip-offs from two previous, well-respected Horner scores. If you take
the final cue, "The Passage of Time," as an example, the cue opens up with
the first sub-theme heard in
The Land Before Time (usually performed
by horns), with absolutely no care whatsoever taken by Horner to manipulate
the theme into something fresh for
Once Around. At the two-minute
mark in that same track, you hear several minutes of what is likely the
primary theme for
Once Around, which is unfortunately a regurgitation
of "Somewhere Out There" from
An American Tail. Hearing these two
children's themes from Horner's staple scores may be odd in a family drama,
but for listening sake, they are both beautiful themes. Quartet style
minimalism takes its turns in that final track, but in "The Apology" and
"The Arrival," the choral effect over these re-used themes makes for simple
bliss. Not so blissful, however, is Varèse Sarabande's album release
for
Once Around, which disperses Horner's music in between classic
jazz pieces. One awkward (although enjoyable in and of its own funkiness) is
the Arabic "Sulu Kule" song, which despite its ability to make you want to
crank up the volume, has absolutely nothing to do with the score or the
other songs. Overall, this album contains pleasant restatements of Horner's
previous thematic tenderness, one roaring jazz cue from Horner among a
handful of decent vintage jazz songs, and that crazy Arabic piece. Only the
true Horner fanatic will find much merit in the price of this out-of-print
product.
Score as Written for Film: ***
Score as Heard on Album: *
Overall: **
| Bias Check: | For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.12 (in 89 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.34
(in 158,769 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.