Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you're in the mood to appreciate a perfect balance of hopeful harmony and tremendous tragedy, for Sommersby remains a uniquely melodramatic entry in Danny Elfman's most sentimental ranges. Avoid it... if you consider yourself suicidal, because Sommersby could honestly put you over the edge. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Sommersby: (Danny Elfman) An Americanized story of the soldier who assumes the identity of a comrade and returns to live the other man's life, Sommersby was a Richard Gere vehicle for which Nicholas Meyer had rewritten the story for the Virginia countryside. The film failed to garner much attention outside of its initial release, partly due to the story's predictably downbeat ending, unconvincing acting performances, and poor word of mouth. Despite its obscurity these many years later, Sommersby remains a well crafted film by director Jon Amiel, with several spectacular scenes of beautiful cinematography contained within the picture. In the post-Civil War era, Gere's title character returns from several years of war, having killed the nasty and real (and nearly identical-looking) Sommersby and assuming his place in a small Virginia village as a changed man. As he helps improve the town, as well as his family, the film builds up a positive, though troubled momentum, leading to the discovery of his fraud and a trail for his crimes. Sommersby was the only collaboration between Amiel and composer Danny Elfman (Amiel established a working relationship with Christopher Young after this film), and the choice of the rising star was one of intrigue and curiosity at the time. Elfman had been relatively inactive during the previous years, with his only major assignment being the Batman sequel, a score that obviously had nothing to offer in favor of the composer's talents regarding pre-1900 Virginia. Elfman had clearly defined his heavily dramatic sense of haunting, thematic beauty, however, in Edward Scissorhands. Ironically, Sommersby would offer the basis for Elfman's better known score for Black Beauty the following year, and an interesting environment of hushed, muddled enthusiasm still surrounds the first endeavor. In its intimate exploration of emotional and thematic avenues, Sommersby rivals Edward Scissorhands in power and needs to take its rightful place atop the list of Elfman's career achievements. Critics of the score in 1993 claimed that Sommersby strayed too far from Elfman's sphere of stylistic comfort, offering a work that was simply too out of character for the composer to qualify as perhaps his best effort. Many years later, though, Elfman's music for Sommersby remains as his most uniquely dramatic score and overshadows all of his subsequent efforts in its genuine sensitivity and tragic heart. Thematically rich from start to end, Sommersby is strikingly appropriate for the Virginia landscape, as well as the personal drama contained within. A dynamic string section performs with historic sensibility and remarkable harmony, chopping with power and dignity (in Batman style) in "Going to Nashville" and thereafter. The brass, while occasionally performing one of Elfman's themes, is utilized in a similar fashion to John Barry's Westerns, serving as a bold counterpoint enhancement to the strings (with several such lovely contributions throughout "Return Montage"). Solo trumpet performances contribute occasional nobility to the equation. An acoustic guitar, fiddle, and harmonica offer spectacular accompaniment for the more hopeful, early scenes of farming and community cohesion; some of this rhythmic writing in particular would show up again to a lesser extent in Black Beauty, but it would largely remain strikingly singular to Sommersby in Elfman's first twenty years of film scoring. The ethnic woodwind contributions to these sections, including the beginning of "End Credits," further exhibit a character of period style that Elfman fans would have difficulty finding again. Thematically, Elfman's use of the title theme, heard immediately at the outset of the film, is extensive. It anchors all of the score's major dramatic cues, though an intelligent rotation of performing instruments keeps the idea enticingly fresh. A secondary theme for the concept of rebirth accompanies the new lives for both the title character and the people of the town. First making an impact in "Return Montage," chronologically in terms of the story, the theme is the basis of the memorable "At Work" before Elfman dispatches it in a heartbreaking performance (simultaneous with the primary theme, which becomes one romance for the two leads) at the start of "Death." A few secondary phrases are attached to the statements of the primary theme, used as bridges to connect scenes and break up the harmonic resonance of the score's main identity. Many of these slight interludes are presented in the softer sequences of the score, those minimalistic guitar or woodwind cues that require close attention to appreciate their detail. The overall stylistic impression given by Sommersby, of course, is one of brooding darkness. While beautiful in their instrumentation and performances, the themes are often anchored by an overbearing bass (whether by orchestration or added into the mixing of the score in post-production) that causes them to rumble their way across your stereo. This domineering bass region sometimes makes enjoyment of the score on album difficult, but it sets the intended mood well. When fans of Danny Elfman's early works lament the loss of the composer's dramatic flair, Sommersby best sums up the sound that disappeared from his career over the next decade. It does not adhere to the composer's fairy tale styles of the era, but as Elfman's most deadly serious dramatic effort, one that can bring forth tears if you're not prepared, it's a hidden gem that no true fan of the composer should be without. ***** Track Listings:
Total Time: 51:05
(track times not listed on packaging) All artwork and sound clips from Sommersby are Copyright © 1993, Elektra Entertainment. 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 9/24/96, updated 9/11/08. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2003-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
