Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,770
Written 9/12/09
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Buy it... if you prefer to use your film music to establish a
general mood or environment, in which case the lyrical half of
Crash will function as well as any new age album in existence.
Avoid it... if you're looking for sharp subtlety in construct and
development in this score, because it generally connects the disparate
characters of the story without really emphasizing any individual,
distinguishing characteristics.
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| Isham |
Crash: (Mark Isham) Television director Paul Haggis
struck gold with his transition to directing for the big screen, and he
can thank his talents at also writing strong screenplays for that
success. His 2004 arthouse film Crash, released in full to
theatres in 2005 due its immense popularity, was a rare and difficult
ensemble picture, using a powerful story and a collection of capable,
but not all A-list actors to breathe life into a race-related tale.
Haggis uses the trick of connecting several disparate characters
together by one auto accident, but in so doing exposes each of their
racial prejudices and allows them to transcend those downsides through
positive actions later in the narrative. The tone of the story refrains
from preaching, an important aspect of the production that allowed race
relations in a somewhat fantasy-land form of Los Angeles to be explored
without pounding a message into audiences. The film performed soundly at
major awards ceremonies, culminating in its surprising top Oscar win,
rewarding Haggis for the extremely intelligent handling of the topic.
The film had no relation to a high-profile 1996 picture that had reduced
the concept of a car crash to the level of a sexual fetish, but Haggis'
Crash did inspire a poorly adapted television series three years
later that was not long to survive. The director did not have much money
with which to augment his film with a substantial score, though he
presented the challenge of another low budget assignment to his friend
and collaborator, Mark Isham, who had for years written music for
Haggis' television productions. Likewise, an original song by Bird York
was written for the film's pivotal final scene. The latter was nominated
for an Oscar despite being somewhat distracting (and disconnected from
Isham's score) in the film, though it was Isham's contribution that
brought the most to the table. The composer, with full knowledge of the
challenges presented by such minimally funded assignments, returned to
his roots for Crash, utilizing a combination of electronically
keyboarded textures (sometimes raw in the rendering) and a solo female
operatic voice to perform the entirety of the score. In retrospect,
Isham remains proud of his achievement for Crash, correctly
assessing his success in offering the film a flowing musical personality
that brings an overarching sense of cohesion to the many unrelated
characters and events on screen, though he was ultimately brushed aside
amongst the plethora of awards nominations afforded the film.
Because of the film's somewhat hazy and unrealistic
environment (outside of the character traits that are obviously the
focus), Isham's music conveys the same almost other-worldly atmosphere.
His score solely functions as sonic wallpaper, but within that type of
application of film music,
Crash perhaps makes the best of it. It
doesn't start out promisingly, however, with the first three cues
meandering in a dull soundscape of drab synthetics that reflects the
urban drama techniques of Cliff Martinez. In the center section of the
score, however, Isham introduces the uncredited operatic vocal
performances that accompany the formation of the score's lyrical heart.
The theme performed by this singer and emulated by Isham on the
keyboards is so elongated and nebulous in its smooth progressions that
you won't easily recall it after the score's conclusion, but as a
counterweight to the score's completely faceless other half, it's a
welcome, almost new age idea. The two performers provide the film its
most redemptive spirit in "Flames" and "Sense of Touch," both of which
using the non-English vocals in lovely harmony with simple electronic
backing that doesn't feature a resounding bass region but does suffice
to give the singing some depth. In "Flames," there is an interesting
shift of the vocals from a Middle-Eastern flavor to its more natural
Celtic tone, further muddying the multicultural examinations on screen.
Along those lines, Isham's choice not to employ distant, stereotypical
African American musical representations in the score (or even hint at
them) is perhaps an opportunity lost. In between the vocal performances
in the second half of the score are some of the score's most annoying
portions, including a "Sirens" cue that accelerates the pace and
provides percussion and harsh metallic effects that do little to raise
the blood pressure. On the other hand, the pretty keyboarding in "A
Really Good Cloak" sounds like a distant relative of Vangelis' style of
the previous decade, and when these sounds are joined by the vocalist,
there is a low-key hint of Graeme Revell's
Red Planet to be
heard. Ultimately, there is fifteen minutes of top notch new age
material to be heard in the score for
Crash, and if you
appreciate solitary expressions of beauty, then this score will relax
you to no end. A lack of emphasized narrative development in the music,
however, leaves the album experience as one less satisfying than the
music's presence in the film. The York song, as mentioned previously,
was a poor choice for its scene, and the Stereophonics song to close the
album shifts the tone far too drastically in a positive direction. A
score-only re-issue came from Lionsgate in 2009. This is a morbid
listening experience for all but the most somber, melodramatic of
types.
@Amazon.com: CD or
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- Music as Written for Film: ****
- Music as Heard on Album: ***
- Overall: ***
Bias Check:
For Mark Isham reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.84
(in 26 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.88
(in 9,973 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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