Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... only if you appreciated the quirky balance of contemporary and futuristic instrumentation in the context of the film. Avoid it... if you're usually discouraged by the inaccessibility of Carter Burwell's constructs, which in this case are strongly informed by Thomas Newman's rhythmic devices. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Simone: (Carter Burwell) Touted as one of the 2002's potential hits on the big screen, Simone is the creative tale of Hollywood's first computer-generated actress whose digital genetics, as a twist, are unknown to the public and the industry at large. The director, played by Al Pacino, has to contend with this fraud when the actress turns out to be a smash success as a last minute replacement in one of his films. Along with the fear of discovery, the director has to deal with his own sense of reality involving the digital actress. The real director of Simone is Andrew Niccol, whose Gattaca ran along similar themes of futuristic identity, and the screenwriter's credits also include The Truman Show, leading the way for Simone to be yet another self-analyzing satire of Hollywood. The film, unfortunately, did not reach any of its expectations, and it disappeared off the radar screens during a rather slow late summer season for films. Composer Carter Burwell, whose technique of composing for a dry sense of humor (especially with so much experience with the Coen Brothers' films) is well documented, provides a similarly snazzy little score for a futuristic but still somewhat contemporary tone. The movie, while containing several tense and frustrating (if not heartbreaking) moments, required a lighter, marginally comical score. Burwell responds with music that is, at the very least, a pleasurable and consistent listening experience. He's taken some of the same light-hearted Americana spirit from his more Country-oriented works, such as The Rookie (which was maintaining a popular following in 2002), and twisted it into a postmodern, urban score with several electronic elements and a partially stocked orchestra (of less than 40 players). The quirky tone of Burwell's score is an intriguing cross between 80% of Thomas Newman's experimental rhythmic sensibilities of the era and 20% of Danny Elfman's early wackiness. And, as to be expected, Burwell's own trademark of disjointed progressions gives the score a slightly inaccessible sound. The key to the success of Burwell's score, however, is his avoidance of the cold postmodern style that Michael Nyman used for Gattaca and instead utilizes a necessary and consistent rhythm of minimal funk in order to keep this film in its satirical mode of operation. There is no readily impressive theme in Simone, but Burwell represents the digital persona, as well as the general attitude of Hollywood, with appropriate pizzazz and jaunty rhythmic style. The Hollywood setting is well represented by the frantic electric rhythms of guitars and keyboards heard at the very beginning of the album and film, as the real actress in Pacino's film quits. The rest of the score is sustained by a slight futuristic atmosphere created with airy keyboards and electronic samples of an intentionally synthetic nature. Even as Burwell maintains the dreamy curve in the music, he manages to insert a few classic moments of old Hollywood glamour (to an almost comical degree of melodrama in parts) and this plays to the all-important finale cue of the film and album. The highlights of the score are the outbursts of arguably clunky, yet awkwardly attractive moments of rhythmic prancing for the artificial Simone. As her false fame takes flight, the Simone score features more of her choppy, but satisfyingly flowing electric guitar and keyboarding motifs, complete with the nearly constant tinkling of light percussion. The more sensitive one-on-one moments between the director and his digital actress are poignantly performed by a single piano and occasional solo woodwinds. That sensitivity grows until its height in the "Virtually Forever" cue, which concludes with a lovely duet between the small orchestra and an electronic chorus. Unfortunately, that climactic cue also suffers from the album's only instance of sound distortion (perhaps it was mixed at too high a gain at some point in the post-processing for the album). The small size of the orchestra, while restraining the music when Simone's theme isn't prevailing with the guitars and keyboards, keeps this score from flourishing in a parody of Hollywood's glamour that the film could have used. The electronic samplings during the more introverted parts of the film (represented mostly in "Splendid Decay") can occasionally become tiresome in their dissonant state, but their duration is typically minimal. Overall, Simone is an intimate and mostly low-key effort. For collectors of Burwell's often unconventional works, there may be just enough quirkiness here to sustain repeat listens on album. For the general masses, though, the album doesn't contain the film's lovely choral piece (by Samuel Barber) and the score's functionality won't likely translate into a successful presentation out of context. *** Track Listings:
Total Time: 41:05
All artwork and sound clips from Simone are Copyright © 2002, 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 9/29/02, updated 2/28/09. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2002-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
