Donnie Darko: (Michael Andrews) The word
"depressing" doesn't even begin to describe
Donnie Darko. It's
not the gore-fest that many disturbing pop culture hits of the 2000's
are, but rather a science fiction contemplation of death and destiny
with an immensely disturbing ending. Why films like this even exist is a
worthy question, because most audiences are unlikely to even understand
first time director Richard Kelly's purpose. Even if you do get some
satisfaction from the exploration of alternate universes and the idea
escaping one's fate, the ending of
Donnie Darko is so grim that
it's not worth the questions even being posed. Still, people like to be
emotionally yanked around in these sorts of ways, especially if the
topic includes teen romance and cute, young stars staring off into
nothingness. After grossing only half a million dollars upon trying to
woo arthouse crowds at its 2001 release,
Donnie Darko became a
hit in DVD circulation due to fantastic word of mouth. This led to a
director's cut that was re-distributed to theatres in 2004. You do have
to give credit to the production for making the most out of a small
budget. Along with a decent cast,
Donnie Darko also sports
surprisingly good visual effects that took advantage of the
ever-lessening expense of CGI renderings. Unfortunately, one area in
which the production went for the cheapest possible option was in its
original score, which became the first feature assignment of a composer
for whom lesser television series had been the pinnacle of his output.
As with anytime a traditional band member enters the realm of film
scoring, there are perils of inexperience that inevitably lead to a
score that strives to match the atmosphere of a film without really
adding any new dimension to it. Such is exactly the case with
Donnie
Darko, which features a score that suffices in its basic addressing
of the topic without actually containing any clever sense of direction
that can foreshadow or help explain the non-linear movements of the
film. It is a stream of consciousness score with an extremely
conservative stance in mind from the start. Low budgets often force
composers to be extremely creative, but at other times, they simply
yield basically sufficient but ultimately pointless background noise. To
say that Michael Andrews'
Donnie Darko transcends beyond the
struggles of the latter category would be an insult to the plethora of
more interesting film music in existence.
While on the surface Andrews' work may seem wholly
uncoordinated, there was some planning that went into the sound of
Donnie Darko. Because the film is set in 1988, there is a bit of
emulation of early Vangelis environments, with a voxophone employed to
produce the synthetic sounds thought to be appropriate to the era's view
on science fiction. Unfortunately for Andrews and the director, these
sounds would have been appropriate if the film had been set in the
1970's; the late 80's had seen significant maturation in synthetic tones
since the voxophone era. The employment of a piano to match the sweet
suburban/familial setting is as much a budget decision as an artistic
one. Slight waltz rhythms in both the piano and synthetic keyboarding
draw out the score's thematic elements to insufferably slow expressions.
The middle portion of the score adds electronic choral effects
(synthetically altered or of library origin, it doesn't really matter)
that are almost reminiscent of the ethereal portions of Danny Elfman's
Beetlejuice. These portions are obviously the highlights of
Donnie Darko, for the lengthy cues of synthetic droning for
purely atmospheric purposes double as a sound effects layer for the
film. The few jabs and strikes to hit points of synchrony in the film,
as in "Ensurance Trap," are sparsely rendered. It's disappointing to
hear these moments (and the entirety of the score, really) fail to offer
any depth in the soundscape, no real distinction between treble and bass
elements, when the story is offering such a thought-provoking premise.
There simply needed to be more instrumental development to break through
the necessary moments of haze in
Donnie Darko and add a truly
convincing layer to the film. The waltz movements to represent insanity,
best exemplified by "Waltz in the 4th Dimension," start to touch upon
this idea, but without clear musical lines for the girlfriend, the evil
rabbit, the grandma, and other characters, then how could their musical
representations be twisted to better represent the temporal paradoxes
and parallel universes? It should be mentioned that the softly elegant
solo piano cue "Did You Know Him?" is simply emotionally misplaced in
its totality. The extraordinarily drab album is actually saved by an
equally depressing but at least digestible cover version of the Tears
for Fears song "Mad World." Gary Jules' voice sounds eerily similar to
that of a sullen Michael Stipe, interestingly, and an alternate version
adds a percussion layer to the mix. The lyrics tell you everything you
need to know about the score, too. Watch out for wayward jet engines and
down those pills!
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The slipcase packaging of the 2002 album includes a note from the director that
praises this score with all the stereotypical descriptors given by an inexperienced
filmmaker that doesn't know the difference between a good score and pure shit.
