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Review of Marvin's Room (Rachel Portman)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if there is no limit to your capability to appreciate Rachel Portman's accessible, pleasantly dramatic style of light orchestral tones.

Avoid it... if you require some deviation in rhythmic or instrumental personality in your Portman works to tease you back to her obvious constructs.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Marvin's Room: (Rachel Portman) A Scott McPherson off-Broadway play, Marvin's Room was translated onto the big screen in 1996 by director Jerry Zaks. The film featured a blockbuster cast led by Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep, with several awards nominations spread among them for their performances in this project alone. It is an intimate tale of a family estranged by distance and brought together to take care of one another after a series of unexpected medical crises. Along expected lines, the characters grow in their harmonious union as the film progresses, and despite the rather grim circumstances of their individual problems, the narrative also features its fair share of black humor. A tear-jerker in the end, Marvin's Room was the kind of assignment that was perfect for a tender, heartfelt score from the British master of light romance and drama music at the time, Rachel Portman. The year 1996 was best noted in Portman's career as the one in which she attained her first Academy Award nomination and win for Emma. It was also a year that yielded her dynamic music for the pseudo-musical The Adventures of Pinocchio, which broadly touched upon her typical, broad strokes of compassion. While Marvin's Room is a story set in contemporary times, its score shares the same deeply rooted dramatic sense of love and harmony as the one for Emma, choosing to remain understated rather than exploring too many overtly melodramatic avenues. At the time, Portman's music was still refreshingly new, especially with extensive re-use in public venues of her Only You work from just a few years before, and her critics had not yet really begun to assert themselves in their argument that all of her music for dramatic arthouse projects sounds too familiar. Looking back at Marvin's Room, a certain amount of repetition of style will likely hinder this score's legacy, however. With Portman's predictable music for this genre, you have to evaluate it as how well it uses slight instrumental or rhythmic deviations to distinguish itself compared to the rest of her works.

Portman's music for Marvin's Room, unfortunately, accomplishes nothing along those lines. To appreciate the score, therefore, you need to be in tune with all of the basic elements of the Portman style that would be best established in her Oscar-nominated The Cider House Rules. There is one distinction to draw between these two styles of drama for Portman, however. While her tendency to follow her sweeping themes with subsequently uninteresting underscore is often the subject of debate in her later scores, Marvin's Room differs in that its material is at least more consistent throughout. The score doesn't have the magnificent highs of some of her works, but it is a more evenly spread listening experience. Written with piano, strings, and woodwinds at the forefront, she mixes (what sounds like) a saxophone into her steadier cues. With a rumbling orchestral pace, a slightly playful bounce, a descending background motif, and a habit of ponderously lingering on a note beyond the suggested confines of its underlying rhythm, the title theme performances offer the feel that inhabited James Horner Sneakers. The heart of the score does reside once again in the piano performances, but Marvin's Room is elevated from Portman's usually mundane levels of pleasant harmony by her layering of all the performances. Whether in mixing or inherent in the composition, the overlapping instrumental performances in the score provide a texture richer than Portman's usual work. This multi-level orchestral accompaniment keeps the score energized for much of its length. On album, a decent offering of score material will more than satisfy enthusiasts of Portman's dramatic consistency. The title song is delicately performed by Carly Simon, with an obvious connection in lyrics and theme to the film and score. It's a rare occasion when the song, score, and film are a perfect match, and they round out a pleasant album. A vibrant mix of the recording, from the wet ambience of Simon's voice in the song to the resounding tone of the piano in the score, is commendable. Overall, Marvin's Room isn't a particularly special entry in Portman's career, but it is no less a continuation of her appealing, dramatic talents.  ***

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 41:42

• 1. Two Little Sisters (Theme from "Marvin's Room") - performed by Carly Simon (3:24) • 2. Main Titles (3:03) • 3. The Wig (3:33) • 4. Burning Down the House (3:35) • 5. Reflections (1:11) • 6. The Loony Bin (1:54) • 7. Florida (2:56) • 8. The Toolbox (2:15) • 9. I've Been So Lucky (2:29) • 10. End Title (3:47) • 11. The Toolbox II (1:13) • 12. The Beach (2:23) • 13. Tall Tales (3:02) • 14. Clarence James (1:49) • 15. Someplace Else (1:23) • 16. Marvin's Room (3:37)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes 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 Marvin's Room are Copyright © 1996, Hollywood Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 5/14/03 and last updated 3/29/09.