Bee Season: (Peter Nashel) The greatest irony about
the film adaptation of
Bee Season is that most of the people who
watch the trailers for the film and are unfamiliar with Myla Goldberg's
2000 best-selling novel on which it is based will have no idea what
they're getting into when they watch it. Seemingly a story about how a
family copes with its internal demons while its daughter becomes a
spelling bee champion,
Bee Season only uses these concrete story
elements to tell a larger tale about religion. The film involves the
Jewish concept of the Chosen People, capable of reaching the ear of God
through letters via the ancient mystical practices of Kabbalah. Subplots
in the film involve acts that are done in the name of Tikkun Olam (a
Hebrew phrase that means "to repair the world") and spiritual journeys
at a Hare Krishna temple. It is a dreary tale of self-exploration,
almost in a documentary style, and even its scenes at the spelling bees,
with hundreds of young hopefuls in attendance, are portrayed with a dull
lack of enthusiasm compared to some outstanding documentaries depicting
those events on film in recent years. Poor critical response to
Bee
Season not only indicates that Goldberg's novel is simply not built
for film adaptation, but that the two parents at the center of the story
were badly miscast. On the whole, a promising film has slipped into
obscurity through its own plethora of faults, and it could be argued
that Peter Nashel's score is one of them. Nashel has only been composing
for a few short years, mostly involving documentaries and television
works, and debuted in full while working on
The Deep End in 2001
with the same directors of
Bee Season. One would have to be
immediately intrigued by the opportunity to write music for mystical
journeys, and to hear a character drama that draws from the rich
historical sounds of Jewish faith. Interestingly, Nashel seems to score
the basic drama and sadly miss the mysticism.
Part of the criticism about
Bee Season as a film
has involved the lack of charisma or motivation in the performances and
technical aspects of the production. For a spiritual journey, the film
lacks any spirit, and to some degree, Nashel's score is guilty of
compounding that problem. Built upon a base of acoustic guitar and small
string ensemble, the score is complimented by a sensitive piano,
tingling percussion, electric bass, and various sound design elements.
Occasional ethnic usages, such as the wood flute in "I Start Out Hearing
It in My Head" infuse some momentary life into the score. Opening well,
the score features a few cues of hopeful rhythmic activity with the
string section, light drums, harp, and bass, highlighted by the
"Spelling Suite" that acts as not only the most lively cue on album, but
the highlight as well. Perhaps out of necessity, the remainder of the
score is typically devoid of such spunk, relying upon the heavily
ambient droning of an electronic wash with alternating instrumental solo
uses overhead. Fortunately, Nashel maintains harmony for much of this
time, so while the score won't get your pulse moving at a substantial
pace, it is a piece that will easily lull you to sleep. Of particular
standout interest are cues such as "Abulafia's Path" and "Origami,"
which feature a strong violin rhythm, and "Orange Street," which beats
with rapid and heavy percussion worthy of any good jungle hunt. The lack
of a clearly developed theme for any of the character is a fault that
needs mentioned; a series of chord progressions that forms a theme does
exist, but the often slow pace of the score inhibits their statements.
Thus, you have a score for a mystical character drama that has minimal
thematic development for the characters and minimal expression of
religious exploration in its instrumentation. Overall,
Bee Season
is a pleasant score that will play well enough on album, but seems like
an odd fit given the nature of the story. A much-hyped song performed by
the New York group Ivy opens the album with a somber tone. One
significant complaint about the album must be made: absolutely nowhere
on the package does the product indicate that the music was written by
someone named Peter Nashel. That must be a first for a score album...
** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
More interestingly, nowhere on the packaging does it indicate that Nashel wrote
the score.
