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The most obvious and alluring aspect of Desplat's approach to The Boys in the Boat is his almost constant element of motion during the non-conversational scenes. Add to that movement his greater adherence to accessible tonalities and you have what often sounds like pleasantly anonymous inspirational music. His standard orchestral ensemble emphasizes piano and trumpet as mainstays of the dramatic sports genre as expected, and percussion use remains relatively typical. Only occasional use of atonal trumpets to seemingly imitate bird calls represents the composer's familiar tendencies towards unusual style. A tasteful application of electric guitar replaces the normal role of an acoustic guitar without any conflict with the time period, and both electric bass and subtle synthetics provide background depth and a touch of connection to common, modern concepts. The demeanor of the work remains more romantic than you often hear from Desplat, the lovely "Boat Ride" providing the composer's smoother inclinations with a touch of Phillipe Rombi. (Even in that cue, a carefully placed synthetic pulse in the bass offers some suspenseful gravity to the latter half of the recording.) The personality of Desplat's music for The Boys in the Boat is about as pleasant from start to finish as one can imagine, the smoothest listening experience from him in quite some time. But there is a downside to this ease, and it comes in the composer's inability to really handle his themes in the way a score of this genre needs to thrive. He devises two primary identities for the film and a couple of secondary ideas, but while Desplat is indeed faithful to the top two, he doesn't afford them the kind of payoff moments with enough clarity to make them memorable for the average listener. Some cues don't extend a thematic narrative clearly enough or at all; the thematic flow needs to be more obvious reinforcement in this genre. Cues like "Pacific Regatta," "Qualifications," and "Olympic Final" offer inspiration and sufficient volume for their action, but they don't provide adequate development or culmination of the themes. The softer cues especially suffer from this wayward use of themes, "Love Letter," "Talk With Dad," and the start of "Poughkeepsie" all missed opportunities to bring the themes home effectively for listeners not actively listening to make connections.

While there is ample suggested connectivity between the themes in The Boys in the Boat to illustrate what Desplat was attempting strategically, not all of the statements stick closely enough to the established melodies to function as intended. The main theme of the film is one of standard sports inspiration, and it's a pretty identity in both its A and B phrases. The main phrase opens with three pairs of rising notes followed by a descending answer phrase, and it debuts immediately at the start of "The Boys in the Boat" on clarinet. The end of that cue previews the eventual victory version of the theme on trumpet. The theme proceeds on solemn, low strings at 1:09 into "Coaches" and introduces its easy-going B phrase at 1:46 before stewing in fragments through the rest of the cue on strings under the muted trumpet bird calls. It's twisted into a solitary piano variant early in "Joe's Solitude," expressed tentatively on violins at 1:43 into "Oars," and vaguely informs the anticipation early in "The Team" before consolidating at 0:34 and then providing a yearning rendition of the attractive B phrase. (The answer portion of the A phrase is dropped from the progression here, intriguingly.) The main sports theme underpins the inspirational mayhem late in "Getting Stronger," becomes lightly redemptive and relieved at 2:59 into "First Win" with the B phrase in tow on trumpet, bubbles around within the middle of "Love Letter" on piano, and is tortured into an anguished variant at 2:42 into "We Were Never Eight" before regaining its form at 3:41 over driving percussion. The theme returns at 0:18 into "Check From Cal" on solo clarinet under soft pulses from the ensemble, the B phrase presenting tender resolution from the fuller group and a nice manipulation of the A phrase closing the cue at 1:22. It's reduced to solo electric guitar in "Broke" with the first three phrases inverted to descend (a nice touch), twisted into sufficient but unnecessary variants in "Qualifications," delicate at the outset of "Olympic Final," and uses hints to barely guide the meandering atmosphere of "Talk With Dad." The theme finally evolves into its victorious destiny in the later cues, first transforming at the momentous start of "USA Rowing Team (Film Version)" and more prominently expressed at 1:00 in fanfare form. A softer version of the same evolution is explored in "USA Rowing Team (Alternate Version)," and the theme prevails on top of the propulsive movement at 6:50 into the delightful "Poughkeepsie" with its B phrase, later closing the score on softer string tones.

The other primary theme in The Boys in the Boat suggests the prestige of the setting. Presented in suite-like format at 0:31 into "The Boys in the Boat" on piano and at 1:02 on strings, it's a spritely and refined idea with an affably rising and descending B phrase at 1:28. That cue returns to the A phrase at 1:57 with some 1980's light drama and enthusiasm in this rendering, later reduced to solo clarinet at 3:13. This prestige theme is barely evident on whimsical strings at the start of "Oars," toyed with by electric guitar at the start of "Getting Stronger" and informing that cue's later rhythms. It gains new muscularity in "Training" with the aid of beefy percussion while its underlying chords tease in the build-up of "First Win" and its progressions are challenged during the heightened action at 4:58 into "We Were Never Eight." The theme loses its will on piano at 1:00 into "Broke," smartly shifts to the minor key at 0:11 into "Berlin" despite retaining its momentum and dissolves to solo piano in the suspenseful middle portion of that cue. Fragments of the theme inform the optimism early in "USA Rowing Team (Film Version)," the middle of the cue using this theme as background counterpoint extensively and a solo piano rendition at 2:42 pointing to a nice ensemble conclusion. The same performance exists in "USA Rowing Team (Alternate Version)." Residual fragments of the theme open "Poughkeepsie" and guide some of its later rhythmic moments. In the recurring secondary motifs, Desplat uses three-note phrases to represent adversity, from the electric guitar at 2:03 and 4:38 into "Coaches" to the stirring of the pot in the middle of "First Win" and a moment at 0:56 into "Olympic Final." The composer's love theme is short-lived in the middle of the work, its progressions seeming to provide a distraction at the end of "Joe Out of Sync" before the composer unleashes the idea fully on flowing strings at 0:43 into "Boat Ride" over rambling piano runs. The theme repeats several times in that cue, gaining tonal intensity from the full ensemble, but thereafter it is only reduced to just a shadow on solo piano in "Love Letter." Together, these themes find just enough footing to hold the score together, but they are not as obvious as necessary for this genre. Due to this misstep, The Boys in the Boat is a score that thrives solely on the spirit of its rendering, which is still really strong. But it restricts the work from being among the better, more memorable sports scores in existence. On album, a very dry mix typical to Desplat's scores robs a bit of the grandeur from the atmosphere, especially considering the setting on the water. There's much to like in this score, but it remains too comfortably anonymous to rise above the competition.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Alexandre Desplat reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.39 (in 31 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.23 (in 15,051 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 78:23