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Review of The Happening (James Newton Howard)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... only if you can appreciate a chilly series of nervous,
ambient crescendos of dissonance and a subtle funeral march led by a
heartless cello and alienating piano as a title theme.
Avoid it... if you expect any compelling, harmonic sense of awe outside of the penultimate cue on the album.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
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. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 49:58
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes extensive credits and a list of performers, but no extra
information about the score or film.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from The Happening are Copyright © 2008, Varèse Sarabande and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 6/6/08 (and not updated significantly since). |
