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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you are attracted to both the edgy orchestrations of Elliot Goldenthal's thrillers and the slashing techno-inspired rhythms of Eric Serra's action. Avoid it... if you expect the substantial chase music to adequately merge with the solemn title theme for duduk and strings, because Elia Cmiral's score never adequately blends the lines of its two distinct halves. Original Review, by Christian Clemmensen
Ronin: (Elia Cmiral) Director John Frankenheimer's first universally praised triumph since his classic The Manchurian Candidate more than three decades earlier, Ronin is among the most impressive chase movies of the digital era. Filmed in a dreary France, the biting story of soul-wandering professional agents and tacticians from various Cold War origins resorting to one mercenary mission together is something of an excuse for a series of extraordinary car chases along the charged, personal lines of The French Connection. A stellar cast highlights both the five mercenaries and their shady employers, and their gritty performances of writer David Mamet's uncredited script for Ronin lacks a weak link. While composer Gary Chang was the usual provider of music for Frankenheimer's films, the Ronin assignment was reported to be in the hands of Christopher Young and then Jerry Goldsmith before the latter composer's last-minute departure from the project left Frankenheimer with little-known Swedish composer Elia Cmiral. In the ten years since Ronin, Cmiral has made a career skirting mainstream film scoring in Hollywood, with a series of B-rate projects rarely as compelling as his major opening venture. His certainly adequate and occasionally interesting score for Frankenheimer's project placed him on the map (his previous notable efforts coming from television). Expectations for his music for Ronin were non-existent, though Cmiral's composition is a striking combination of elements that do and don't make much sense. The concept behind the title is that of the Japanese samurai who failed to protect their lords from slaying, and who thus were outcasts and, like the warriors of this film, available for hire. Cmiral does make some token cultural references to the Japanese and East Asian culture in his music, mostly centered around the use of Taiko-like drums and sparse throat singing effects, both evident in the first minute of the opening "Ronin Theme" cue. The remainder of the ethnicity involves the performances of the title theme by a duduk, though the choice of the Armenian clarinet seems a bit awkward in this context. Without a doubt, the employment of the duduk to perform the simple, but effective theme for the souls of the mercenaries places the spiritual setting of the story at some vague point in history. But, as with the remainder of the performing ensemble, the greatest weakness of the duduk's otherwise solemnly enchanting performances is Cmiral's choice not to develop them well throughout the score's non-thematic majority. The solitary theme is fine as a representation for the five leads, but the statements of this theme, outside of the orchestral accompaniment that breaks the monotony in both "Ronin Theme" and (especially) "Good Knowing You," are too consistent to merit continuous interest. Its appearances in "Thank You," "Et Toi, Comment Ca Va," "The Girl Sold Us Out," and "The Ronin Myth" never grow with the characters. A subtheme of comradery heard in "A New Friendship" and "Passion" is performed on piano, strings, and flute without much interest until the last minute of the latter cue. The majority of the score is a slashing and bleak series of techno-rhythmed chase cues, often dissonant and changing in tempo as necessary to follow the frantic movements on screen. The instrumentation of these cues is marginally interesting for the first few minutes, though after an hour on album, with most of the cues adhering to the same chasing mold, it becomes tiresome. A distinct European sensibility will remind of some of Eric Serra's more electronically frenetic works, though the consistent augmentation of the synthesizers by a reasonable collection of brass and strings will be rewarding for some fans of Elliot Goldenthal's more edgy works. Outside of this mass of suspense and action music, as well as the handful of duduk and string-led performances of the two themes, the score's only remaining notable cue is an irritating carnival march in "Carousel for Little Tamao." While the score serves its purpose, it's a rather frustrating one in that Cmiral had all the elements to make a truly inspiring multi-cultural work but never merged the style or instrumentation of the score's two halves. The lack of this development is exacerbated further by an album that's 20 minutes too long. Overall, there's much to be intrigued about in Ronin, but outside of the closing "Good Knowing You" cue, the score offers little to enjoy on a regular basis. ***
Review #2, by Richard (Anonymous)
Ronin: (Elia Cmiral) Elia Cmiral, a relative newcomer to Hollywood has composed a truly sophisticated, intelligent and atmospheric score for John Frankenheimer's Ronin. Having worked on only Apartment Zero and some episodes of the Don Johnson T.V. series "Nash Bridges," this was perhaps the perfect way for Cmiral to generate a name for himself in the art of film scoring. The central theme of the film (Ronin Theme) is performed on a Japanese woodwind instrument called a Duduk, and is an exceptionally solemn piece perfectly captures the personalities and emotions of the centeral characters, in particular, their loneliness and isolation. This main theme is used throughout on every "quiet" track, and always fulfills its role well. Much of the score is suspense music, "waiting music" that adds to the tension on-screen, with many cymbol rolls and crescendos, both on percussion and brass. Many small outbursts of brass are heard in the tracks which display this style of music utilising accented and sticattoed notes, with syncopation present for a vast ammount of the time. The first of the action cues, is Track 6 "The Getaway", which essentially is a percussive piece, however, use of strings and strong brass give it some extra power which drives it. One thing that is interesting to notice, is that in all the action cues where Cmiral's use of percussion is vital, we hear little or no Timpani's. This struck me as being unusual as most modern Hollywood score that use an orchestra use them. Instead, we are given a drum kit which does work very effectively. A strange synthesizer sound is used in every track, although seems very noticable in Track 15, "This is the Day" (which may be a wrong title name, because the scene in which features this music, the major car chase, is before Robert De Niro as Sam says....."This is the Day".) which is the major piece of action music on the CD and the longest track. This piece produces some very new and enjoyable harmonies between the various brass intruments and strings. Track 18 "Gunfight at the Amphitheater" is another major action cue which once again relies heavily on percussion and crescendos of the brass to create the mood of the piece....a fast paced action romp! Tremelos by the violins and chromatic movement on the lower end of a piano (which is very faint) add to the suspensful style of the piece, which together, all works exrtemely well both on and off screen. Track 22, "Wrong Way" is an excellent piece of Chase music, again boasting the heavy use of brass, percussion and those stange synthersiser sounds, this track also introduces some tuned percussion to play one of the melodies. Track 23, "Sam Goes for the Case" is yet another action cue, yet this piece included very much dissonance on the strings. In previous tracks this effect is heard mainly on brass instruments. After Track 25, "You're a Dead Man," slowly fades away, we are treated to the finale music, "Good Knowing You", which plays the Ronin theme again, however having some parts of the accompaniment this time being major, it makes the unsettled feeling of the whole score seem resolved. The last theme is one of the most beautiful and uplifting themes heard in a film score in recent years. It is a shame it only lasts 55 seconds, as this truly demonstrates Cmiral's talent at creating sweeping orchestral music. As the score concludes with the familiar Ronin theme and that un-namable synthesiser noise, we are reminded (and especially when watching the film) that the situation at hand for the film's characters, while it may seem is over, really is not... once again, depicting the lonliness of such a job. Overall, I was wonderfully pleased with the score for Ronin, which is marvelously balanced between action and dramatic pieces. Cmiral has a rare skill at being able to create both equally well. For fans of the film, good original film music, and as stand-alone compositions in their own right, I would highly recommend the score for Ronin because it is a refreshing change from some of the cliches of modern day action film scores. My only problem with this recording is track 11, "Carousel For Little Tamao," seems dreadfully out of place, and is an annoying piece of circus music, however even that cannot ruin this wonderful score. *****
The album includes the following note about Cmiral from the director, John Frankenheimer:
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