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Review of Lost Souls (Jan A.P. Kaczmarek)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you're a sucker for the dark ambience and typical
horror techniques of Satanic thrillers and are in the mood for one that
gives the genre a refreshing taste of style.
Avoid it... if you like being pounded over the head with dominant themes and heavy liturgical chanting, both of which are held to a minimum in this surprisingly atmospheric score.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Lost Souls: (Jan A.P. Kaczmarek) Audiences had a
wide variety of religious horror films to choose from around the time of
the millennium changeover, and unfortunately most of them were downright
awful. October, 2000's Lost Souls had initial promise because it
represented the directorial debut of Janusz Kaminski, the celebrated
cinematographer who won Academy Awards for both Schindler's List
and Saving Private Ryan. But with a weak cast and muddled script,
the film lived up to its most expected, worst case scenario: a product
that looked great but made no sense otherwise. It's a standard
possession film, once again theorizing that Satan will begin his reign
on Earth by using a normal person as a vessel. In this case, that person
is a popular, atheistic author of murder mysteries who must be saved
from his fate by Winona Ryder, who not only was suffering from a lost
career at this point, but whose character had once been possessed
herself. With the assistance of a few religious officials and inevitable
exorcisms and bodies floating above beds and all the other usual
nonsense that typically defines these stories, the plot of Lost
Souls gave audiences too much theological rhetoric and not enough
head-spinning fun. At least End of Days had a muscle-bound future
governor of California fighting the always-intriguing Gabriel Byrne. For
the soundtrack to Lost Souls, Kaminski turned to Polish composer
Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, an understandable move not only due to the
composer's inherent nationality, but also because of the fact that so
many outstandingly dark, brooding scores had come from Polish composers
throughout the 1990's. Kaczmarek had been scoring dramatic films for
several years, remaining just a few steps away from the kinds of
assignments that would be highlighted by mainstream media, and he was
still several years from his Oscar win for Finding Neverland. For
Lost Souls, he wrote a complex and suitable mass of sonic power,
as well as lengthy sections of meditative reflection and prayer. The
film called for a score very similar to that which you would expect for
this genre: haunting, orchestrally dynamic and robust, chanting with
verse, tolling on chimes, and rumbling with timpani.
Despite its lengthy passages of subdued, conversational underscore, Lost Souls is still a monstrous score in size and scope. Two performing orchestras, including The London Lyndhurst Orchestra and the Sinfonia Varsovia (of Warsaw, Poland), combine with the Warsaw Chamber Opera Choir to create the depth and volume necessary for the subject matter. A wide range of solo performances mixed within the bed of orchestral turmoil from the ensemble includes a solo piano, oboe, cello, and soprano, countertenor, tenor, baritone, and base voices. In coordination, these performers produce a score which is heavy on dramatic reflection and, interestingly, less so on violent horror. There are no sequences of lengthy chanting, nor are there outstanding moments of overwhelming theme. Unlike Jerry Goldsmith's The Omen, there is no one motif that will stick in your mind for very long. The most impression-forming moments of the score are the numerous piano solos, during which "Maya's Lullaby" is performed in all of its variations throughout the score. A separate theme that likely serves as the score's primary idea is poorly maintained in the ambience of the actual suspense material. The lengthiest sequence of bombastic, orchestral and choral horror music occurs early on the album; in "Exorcismus," a female soprano voice is an outstanding accompaniment to the slow, rumbling crescendos of fright. It will remind you of passages from End of Days, but while Lost Souls isn't as generally explosive as the John Debney score, Kaczmarek does incorporate stereotypical choral elements into the work. The choral performances, along with the delicate piano solos, mark the highlight of the score on album. The majority of their outbursts are reserved for the final five cues, during which the primary theme finally matures after 45 minutes of only faint exploration. The full compliment of solo performances in the last ten minutes is especially a refreshing interpretation on an old idea. The rest of the lengthy album is more atmospheric in style, with occasional, quick bursts to represent a cinematic shock. With so many different solo elements combined with two orchestras and vocalists, it's hard not to appreciate Lost Souls for its sheer complexity in construction. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 70:21
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
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