Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #2,167
Written 5/18/21
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Buy it... if a conservatively dramatic thriller score of reserved
rhythmic flow, highlighted by one outstanding cue at the end, can
justify your interest in Abel Korzeniowski's return to the big screen.
Avoid it... if you continue to struggle with Korzeniowski's
inability to develop thematic constructs in effectively engaging ways
through his scores, this one desperately needing a more convincing
narrative arc.
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| Korzeniowski |
The Courier: (Abel Korzeniowski) Espionage
thrillers about true events may not offer many unexpected plot twists,
but finely crafted ones are still quite engrossing. The 2021 film The
Courier aims for this route, telling the story of average British
businessman Greville Wynne who, in the early 1960's, is recruited by
British intelligence to make contact with and return materials from a
Russian colonel who supplies information critical to the Cuban Missile
Crisis. The effects that this work have on him and his wife are the
focus of the film, his efforts successful but coming at great cost.
Benedict Cumberbatch's performance as Wynne is the main attraction,
especially after his capture and deterioration in a Russian prison. The
movie was awards bait waiting to happen at the start of 2020 but was
delayed by the pandemic well into 2021, and despite a moderately
agreeable critical reception, the movie didn't generate much interest at
minimal screen showings. The project represented a positive turn of
events for film music collectors, however, as it led to a feature
scoring assignment for Polish composer Abel Korzeniowski. Having
impressed with his dramatic efforts from 2009 to 2013, Korzeniowski
withdrew from cinematic projects in the latter half of the 2010's, with
only The Nun in 2018 to his credit. Undoubtedly, The
Courier is the kind of project that would have been perfect for
Alexandre Desplat, who has tackled countless historical political
thrillers in his career. For Korzeniowski, the film afforded him the
opportunity to explore the tense and dramatic side of the same general
techniques that Desplat would have applied. Both composers have a knack
for classically precise rhythmic movement, and Korzeniowski applied
these figures to outstanding results in W.E. and Romeo &
Juliet in the early 2010's. He structures his music for The
Courier similarly, most cues containing highly repetitive, almost
hypnotically churning phrasing that ties directly into his accompanying
motific development. With the tone of the score respectfully and
intimately symphonic, expect the work to appeal to Desplat collectors
just as much as it will to those eagerly awaiting new music from
Korzeniowski. That said, there is little warmth in this score, for the
story doesn't have the romantic element of something like The Russia
House, so expect a businesslike tone throughout.
The atmosphere of the music for
The Courier
meanders between vague elegance for the time and location, moderate
tension, and only hints of interpersonal gravity. Korzeniowski's
ensemble consists of strings, woodwinds, and piano primarily, with brass
and a variety of percussive noise-makers contributing in supporting
roles. Later cues for the imprisonment scenes apply electronic
embellishment in the bass. The score sounds underpowered at times, even
when attempting to exert itself to the forefront with its activity
level. This somewhat shallow sound may result from a smaller performing
group, the work holding back its emotional appeal until the explosive
"Maybe We Are Only Two People" at the end. From "Spies and Typewriters"
to "Eyes of the State" and "Trenchcoats vs. KGB," Korzeniowski gets much
mileage from his rhythmic figures, and they basically function to denote
the machinery of espionage at work. He struggles with his thematic
development, failing to really connect the pieces in
The Courier.
He has a tendency to write motifs for specific scenes and then repeat
them once or twice elsewhere in his scores, not really foreshadowing,
adapting, or resolving those ideas fluidly throughout his works. In this
case, he wrote a theme of two pairs of descending notes for Wynne,
touched upon in "Greville" and serving as the basis for the victorious
"Maybe We Are Only Two People" at the end. Spun off from this theme is a
related motif just as cyclical for the man's captivity in "Could Soup"
and "Breakdown." Korzeniowski addresses the locale with a clear
adaptation of the popular mid-1950's piece, "The Second Waltz," by
Dmitri Shostakovich in "It Has to Be You." The phrasing of the melody in
this tune sadly doesn't directly inform the remainder of the score,
which, on album, never returns to it. In the film, however, this cue is
repeated throughout, so perhaps the filmmakers sought to apply this
attractive but unremarkable waltz (it's not as catchy as Shostakovich's
original) as the movie's main theme. For listeners seeking a
continuation of Korzeniowski's romantic side,
The Courier will
not provide it, only the impressive "Maybe We Are Only Two People"
reminding of the crypt cues from
Romeo & Juliet. This highlight
is a fantastic conclusion to an otherwise rather drab and unremarkable
but very proficient, atmospheric work. The album presentation
fortunately does not overstay its welcome at just over 40 minutes in
length, but be sure to taper your expectations for Korzeniowski's return
when approaching this conservative take on the genre.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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