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Review of 127 Hours (A.R. Rahman)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you desire a challenging score that competently
emulates the aggressive brutality, somber desperation, and euphoric
redemption on screen with A.R. Rahman's usual touch of unconventional
instrumentation.
Avoid it... if it means cutting off your arm in order to acquire it, because only a small minority of the score and the original song co-written by Rahman are really accessible in an otherwise jumbled presentation of incongruous songs and deeply troubled score.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
127 Hours: (A.R. Rahman) Typically categorized as
either an action or a thriller film, 127 Hours is nothing of the
sort. It's horror of the most realistic variety. Filmmakers in the
horror genre have tried every technique possible through the years to
make audiences vomit in the aisles of theatres (William Friedkin
particularly enjoyed this feat), and yet 127 Hours is one of the
few films to accomplish just that without actually using cheap scare
tactics or psychological trickery. Director Danny Boyle and his
Slumdog Millionaire crew instead used a combination of empathy
and realistic gore so effectively that even veteran viewers in screening
events for 127 Hours lost the contents of their stomachs. Despite
the fact that the story of this 2010 film is one of redemption,
containing no villain (other than a large rock) and depicting victory
over adversity of the highest order, there cannot be any denial that one
single scene of gruesomely detailed self-amputation in 127 Hours
dominates the entire production. It's based upon the true story of
27-year-old adventurer Aron Ralston, an experienced outdoorsman who went
on a day excursion in the mountains of Utah and suffered an accident
that left him wedged between a boulder and a canyon wall. After five
days of exhausted water supplies and videotaping his goodbyes to his
family, he decided to make the unbelievable decision to break his
trapped forearm and then sever its tissues with a dull utility knife.
The performance of Ralston by James Franco has been widely praised, as
has been the entire film, but its audience has been understandably
limited by the pivotal scene of dismemberment. A destiny toiling in the
arthouse circuit and failing to recoup even a fraction of its budget is
countered by the hope of success at the major awards ceremonies, a
likelihood based on overwhelmingly positive critical response. Among
those returning with Boyle for 127 Hours is composer Allah Rakha
Rahman, whose Academy Award recognition for Slumdog Millionaire
placed the famous Indian composer into the international spotlight with
a sudden bang.
After a varied and extremely successful career in Bollywood, containing everything from glowing dance numbers to orchestral majesty, the influence of Slumdog Millionaire allowed Rahman to finally test the waters in American cinema. His extremely colorful and incredibly overachieving music for Couples Retreat in 2009 remains a highlight of that year, a clear sampler of the composer's ability to reach out to Western sensibilities. Less memorable is 127 Hours, though even when restrained by the content of the film to a more atmospheric position, Rahman still finds subtle ways to impress. Just don't expect any single moment of this score to blow you away like some of the best cues in the composer's prior soundtracks. In its potentially limited appeal to mainstream listeners due to its own construct, the soundtrack for 127 Hours mirrors the film. There are brief passages where the elements of redemption and beauty of nature prevail in this score, along with driving representations of an ambitious young personality, but the score is, on the whole, a challenging and disjointed listening experience. The "Liberation" cues on the album for the soundtrack contain the fleshy meat of the score's representation of Ralston. It's essentially the escape theme, provided in three cues containing the same quietly aggressive electric guitar strumming and underlying minor-chord rhythms. It starts modestly in "Liberation Begins," with the guitar joined by sampled electronic sound effects and generic string-like meandering in the treble (the majority of the idea's support is synethetic). In both "Liberation in a Dream" and "Liberation," Rahman accelerates the rhythm, accentuates its violent attitude, and adds layers of percussion, guitars and eventually orchestra to the mix. These cues successfully convey the idea of outrageous perseverance, especially when guitar rips, pounded cymbals, striking string figures, and whole notes for brass all reach a satisfying crescendo. On the other hand, they're so harshly rendered that their brutal tone may be difficult to handle for some listeners. Outside of these cues, the remainder of the 26 minutes of underscore on the soundtrack album is comparatively unremarkable. Extremely sparse acoustic guitar in "Touch of the Sun" eventually yields to an eerie vocal effect of brief beauty. Likely representing the protagonist's deteriorating mental state is "Acid Darbari," with deep ethnic flute and Indian vocal effects joining tingling percussion, electronic guitar, and cello solos for a disturbingly morbid cue. The two different choral approaches are merged in "R.I.P.," which plods along with an equally morbid rhythmic personality until a remarkable orchestral outburst in its final minute. The only really palatable score cue is the first; "The Canyon" offers the sole softly dramatic and emotionally appealing material in the score. Disappointingly, its fading clarinet and string sequences are too reminiscent of Alan Silvestri's Cast Away to really sustain much interest. However, out of the very slight theme in this cue comes Rahman's featured song for 127 Hours, "If I Rise." Co-written by Dido Armstrong and Rollo Armstrong (with the former co-performing with Rahman), this song is surely awards-bait in its lovely role as a counterweight to everything heard before it in the score. A subtle but beautiful song, "If I Rise" eventually utilizes children's choir and woodwind solos along with the vocals in a method very, very similar to Angelo Badalamenti's "Maya, Mayi, Ma'" in Holy Smoke!. Despite the fact that "If I Rise" and "The Canyon" are thus somewhat unoriginal in their approach to similar circumstances, they are the main attractions on an otherwise troubled album. The selection of six source songs spread throughout the product, ranging from teenie bopper and contemporary rock to vintage romance from many decades ago and a classical piece, is impossible to reconcile with a Rahman score that alternates between restrained atmosphere and brutal guitar rhythms. Even when programming the score selections together in one sequence, 127 Hours is a difficult album to recommend, though the nearly five minutes of hopeful, easy harmony in "If I Rise" salvage a three-star rating for Rahman's efforts. Whether or not you can stomach this film or its equally challenging album, the music serves as even more evidence that the diversity of Rahman's talents can compete favorably in an otherwise arguably stale film scoring environment in the United States. That said, taper your expectations when exploring this score. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 61:18
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
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