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| Howard |
The Happening: (James Newton Howard) This, what M.
Night Shyamalan claims was his easiest production to date, is ironically
the popular director's most horrifically violent and disturbing.
Twentieth Century Fox encouraged Shyamalan to embrace a full "R" rating
for
The Happening, allowing the writer/director to truly push the
boundaries of the concept of unexplained deaths with gruesome detail.
His story proposes that nature plays a nasty, sudden trick on humanity,
stripping people (of all walks of life) of their most basic instinct:
survival. With society killing itself, intentionally or otherwise, for
seemingly no reason, one Philadelphia teacher (Mark Wahlberg) attempts
to evade the mysterious plague by rushing his family by any means to the
countryside, where fate is no kinder to them. In traditional fashion,
Shyamalan's story and production design contains spooks around every
corner, though the typical twist that exists at the end of his films is
reserved for a larger statement about humanity. The director maintained
much of his usual crew for
The Happening, including composer
James Newton Howard, whose music for Shyamalan's films have earned both
an Oscar nomination and significant praise from film score collectors.
Not surprisingly, the music for this film resides more closely in
general tone to
Signs and
The Sixth Sense than the more
readily enjoyable
The Village and
Lady in the Water. As
Howard has done for previous films in the collaboration, he began
writing his thematic ideas for
The Happening based on only the
script and conversations with the director. The two discussed creating a
score that would primarily extend the film's sense of urgent confusion,
as well as one that would set a rhythmic progression that builds in
intensity as the unknown phenomenon creeps closer to the family at the
heart of the story. Shyamalan mentioned Jerry Goldsmith's unconventional
score for
The Planet of the Apes, though Howard's end result is
closer to a Bernard Herrmann effort for a classic Alfred Hitchcock
suspense story.
In terms of addressing Shyamalan's request for a
dissonant environment and a keen sense of pacing, Howard responds
perfectly. In their discussions, "Bolero" (most recently known popularly
as the end credits to
Moulin Rouge) was mentioned as an
inspiration for the rhythmic movement of
The Happening. Not only
does Howard produce a score that indeed picks up a distinct head of
steam as it nears the end of its humanitarian crisis, but he also sets
the structure of many of the individual horror scenes to that model as
well. Two themes are clearly evident in
The Happening, with
several other ideas (including a very deep brass motif heard in "Central
Park") so fragmented that it's difficult to get a hold of them in terms
of definition. First and foremost is the title theme for cello, lauded
by Shyamalan as a "most haunting cello theme that represents the
struggle of humanity." This theme is frightfully simple, expressing the
vast majority of its notes on key in a stark progression that shows
absolutely no sign of vitality or forgiveness. Heard immediately in
"Main Titles," this cello theme is often supplemented by complimentary
piano. This opening cue is one of the many that builds to a horrific
climax dominated by the bass region. While there exist fluttering harp
and meandering xylophone to ground the treble in parts, there is often a
deep electric groaning that's likely produced synthetically as part of
the ambient sound design for the score. The cello performances are a
memorable aspect of the recording, just as the solo violin remains the
heart of the score for
The Village. Its performances here,
however, offer none of the same elegance or warmth. Maya Beiser's
contribution to
The Happening is chilling, partly because of the
nearly monotone progression of the title theme, but also because of that
theme's roll as a funeral march for humanity. This heartless tone
extends to the cues of suspense, during which the instrument
occasionally sounds heavily strained ("Shotgun"). Even as hope
eventually shines on the score in its final moments, the cello remains a
stark reminder of fate.
The main theme quietly steamrolls through
The
Happening with constant menace, merging with the score's secondary
idea very impressively in "Be With You" at the end. This cue is the only
part of the score somewhat devoid of dissonant elements, extremely
compelling in its use of the omnipresent title theme underneath the
uplifting theme for humanity's better potential. This secondary idea of
more traditional harmonic structure is provided in glimpses throughout
The Happening, including "Jess Comforts Elliot," but "Be With
You" is really its only truly cohesive moment. The remainder of the
score is a disturbing balance between the ambient sound design of the
electronics, orchestral dissonance, and the series of troubled
crescendos that follow a growing sense of urgency in each major cue
involving movement in the story. The scenes of panic in Philadelphia and
elsewhere never reach the level of standard Hollywood awe that you heard
from the composer in
I Am Legend. Only in "Evacuating
Philadelphia" do you hear a brief moment of full ensemble fantasy.
Howard elected not to use a choir in this score, which is an interesting
move that perhaps speaks to the desire to provide the opposite of what
listeners might expect. As mentioned before, there is some influence
from Bernard Herrmann to be heard in
The Happening as well,
especially in the wildly frenetic statement of the propulsive horror
motif in "End Title Suite." Very few moments of harmony can be found
outside of "Be With You," though there is a short minute or so of
tumultuous strings and percussion from
Lady in the Water in
"Central Park" (with that eerie title theme performed on piano in an
ominous, steady fashion throughout the cue's length). On album, the 50
minutes of music is interesting, but not readily enjoyable. The "Be With
You" cue is an automatic qualifier for a compilation, but even the
engaging "End Titles Suite," which summarizes the score's more various
shades, is too disjointed to really maintain a mood. The remainder of
the score is intelligent in its expression of solitude, nerves, and the
occasional startling jolt, but not consistent enough to recommend
completely on its own.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For James Newton Howard reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.4
(in 62 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.29
(in 71,895 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes extensive credits and a list of performers, but no extra
information about the score or film.
