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Comments about the soundtrack for Syriana (Alexandre Desplat)

Re: Score is a perfect match for the film!
• Posted by: Michael Pipolo
• Date:
Thursday, January 19, 2006, at 6:43 p.m.
• IP Address:
livmainborder.wispwest.net
• In Response to:
Score is a perfect match for the film! (Chen)
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> The subtlety and ambiguity is in stark contrast to something like...
> Memoirs of a Geisha, which has received such praise for its score. Is it
> just me, or did it sound completely derivative of The Last Emperor, only
> "Japanified"? :-/

Yes indeed.

If a reader needs any proof of this, just listen to track 3 of "Memoirs of a Geisha" ("Going to School"), and then listen to the (18 years prior) 10th track of "The Last Emperor" (Main Title Theme, by David Byrne). The Geisha sequence is such a verbatim quote of the opening 20 or so seconds of the Last Emperor track that I find it very difficult to believe that Williams thought he could get away with this. I instead think he may have meant it as some kind of tribute, perhaps.

A fair score anyway, though. Not nearly as good as "Munich", in my opinion. "Munich" I uphold to be Williams' 2nd greatest score EVER, second only to Schindler's List.




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