Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #545
Written 9/24/96, Revised 4/9/06
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Buy it... if you enjoyed the dominant songs in the film, including
the Boy George version of the title song.
Avoid it... if you're only casually curious about the Anne Dudley
score.
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| Dudley |
The Crying Game: (Anne Dudley) Neil Jordan had
languished with a few absurd Hollywood projects until the Irish director
returned to his roots and stunned critics and colleagues with The
Crying Game in 1992. From there, his career would include several
top of the line films in the 1990's, though The Crying Game
itself received several Academy Award nominations, including a win for
"Best Original Screenplay." The story begins along popular lines in the
early 1990's, with the IRA taking a British hostage and an amicable
relationship forming between the hostage and the man assigned to hold
and eventually execute him. While the film takes considerable time
establishing the relations between its primary characters, the hostage
scenario is setting up the audience for the second half of the film, in
which the hostage-taker travels to meet the lover of the dead hostage
out of a sense of conscience. The film dives into an exploration of
sexuality and love, and not without a vomit-inducing surprise that left
many audiences appalled. The erotic Jaye Davidson plays a role
(originally considered uncastable by American studios and Jordan advisor
Stanley Kubrick), which says enough right there for the 1% of you who
don't know what flops out during a pivotal scene in the film. The IRA
plotlines are then wrapped up, leaving audiences on a down note and
solidifying the film in the arthouse category despite its immense
critical praise. Musically, the film makes use of several source songs
that play far more memorably than the underscore by Anne Dudley. Older
classics like Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman" (truly ironic
here) and Lyle Lovett's "Stand By Your Man" accentuate the lonely,
romantic part of the story, while the modern dance club venue in the
film is served by the two versions of "Live for Today" and "Let the
Music Play," produced by the Pet Shop Boys. Their cover version of the
classic "The Crying Game" song, performed by a then-obscure Boy George,
turned into an instant radio hit and elevated the status of the entire
film. The original Dave Berry version has been included as well.
This would be Dudley's second and final collaboration
with Jordan before he would team up with Elliot Goldenthal for his
large-scale 1990's projects. Known sparsely in England for her Art of
Noise music, Dudley had not experienced any international exposure, and
partially thanks to
The Crying Game, she would go on to popular
projects in the 1990's that would net her a surprising (and largely
undue) Academy Award for
The Full Monty. Her symphonic music for
The Crying Game, performed by the Pro Arte Orchestra of London,
is not particularly memorable. Built primarily for strings, her slowly
developing melodic structures are easily intended for use under dialogue
for much of its length. The more interesting parts of her score here
would be the foreshadowing of material in
American History X,
with snare-driven, maliciously-intended marches yield pulsating strings
in highly-dramatic fashion. A significant dose of lamentation is evident
in the strictly string pieces that follow. The score picks up a notch in
"Transformation" and "Assassination," with piano rhythms rolling to a
slow boil with the militaristic snare (and other varied percussion)
returning with great effect. A timpani joins the party in the latter
cue, clearly, but not really intelligently taking us on a lengthy
procession toward the climax of the film. A four-note theme for trumpet
exists throughout the score, perhaps representing the British soldier
taken hostage, though its nobility is hindered by its lack of depth. The
entire score suffers from a similar ambiguous moodiness; the emotions of
the story are never reflected well in the score, and the end result is a
barely functional, but ultimately boring and uninspired score. A
less-than-vibrant sound quality also contributes to its anonymous
nature. It's no surprise that the Boy George "The Crying Game" cover
song and orchestral version of "Live for Today" are easily the
highlights of the album. They represent the exploration of love in the
film, and with Dudley's score toiling in the less attractive plot line
of the IRA, you'll find yourself listening to the first half the album
more often than the latter half, which is a rare event for film score
collectors.
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