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| Yared |
Message in a Bottle: (Gabriel Yared) While the cast
and crew of
Message in a Bottle may be almost completely
different from that of
The English Patient a few years prior, the
audiences for the romantic tragedies are largely the same. The
best-selling novel was faithfully adapted and decently shot by Luis
Mandoki and acted by Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn, and Paul Newman.
Penn plays a journalist who finds a love letter in a bottle on a New
England beach and, through some public methods of collecting other
letters from the same source, eventually tracks them down to a lovesick
Costner, who is recovering from the death of his wife while repairing
boats on the Carolina coast. While both leads are adequate, the film
relies heavily on its supporting performances, including that of Newman.
The film's nebulous conveyance of the genre's most potent, tear-jerking
tendencies causes
Message in a Bottle to be a contemporary
version of
The English Patient, and these parallels extend to
Gabriel Yared's two scores for the films. Although the score for
The
English Patient won an Academy Award a few years prior, there was
practically no warmth to it at all, diminishing its technical assets and
leaving a sour taste in the mouths of many film score collectors.
Predictably,
Message in a Bottle is constructed with many of the
same basic instrumental elements and a nearly identical aversion of
outward melodrama. The interesting difference between the two is the far
more engaging nature of the latter score, however, with better-developed
themes and performances that don't refrigerate the room with their
chilly distance. The outward harmony in the themes is really the primary
reason for the success of
Message in a Bottle over the previous
work, and the blend of classical restraint and contemporary reflection
brings Yared's work for
City of Angels into the mix as well.
Listeners familiar and comfortable with Yared's style of chamber
formality will hear enough material to make
Message in a Bottle a
comfortable listening experience, and, conversely, those looking for a
more lively and diverse sound from the composer will also be pleased. It
really is a very strong blend of multiple Yared techniques.
Three highly attractive themes are woven throughout the
score, at times offering the stark atmosphere of the romance theme from
The English Patient while at other times eluding to the broad
strokes of John Barry or the intimacy of Elmer Bernstein. The first
theme to be heard represents fate (or the ocean, both of which are
interchangeable in the film) and its rising structure is given
significant depth by the numerous choral mixes added to the ensemble
during its performances. Initially announced at the end of "To All the
Ships at Sea," this theme is gorgeously rendered in "Finding The Bottle"
and "Last Letter," and a variant for truly ethereal and somewhat spooky
choir is explored in "Images of the Past" and "Some Lives Form a Perfect
Circle." The second theme heard in
Message in a Bottle is
arguably its main one, used extensively in "New Dreams" and reprised in
four or five subsequent cues. This optimistic theme is often performed
by strings and solo woodwind in the same tones as
The English
Patient, but with a far more spirited personality here. The third
theme is easily the most pretty, and its limited performances are a
disappointment. Representing Penn's character, this theme is offered
elegantly on piano in "Theresa" and is unleashed on acoustic guitar in
"Where The Boundaries Are." This latter cue is more bubbly and affable
than anything else on the album, and is a surprising highlight. The
score rotates freely between these thematic ideas, providing the kind of
listening experience delightful in its subtle orchestration and
occasional journeys into more readily accessible harmony. The piano can
sometimes slow the pace to a crawl, but the alternating contributions by
guitar and voices (both ensemble and solo) are always welcome. On album,
the score starts relatively slowly, presenting the three main themes in
far more understated, pleasant, and non-confrontational fashion than
later renderings. The last five cues are more mysterious and powerful
(in an almost eerie, contemplative way) than most of the work in Yared's
career. A solid mix of the recording places the orchestral ensemble far
in front of the choir while the piano and guitar are clearly
distinguished; the layering is very well handled. This 48-minute
score-only album followed an earlier song compilation (also released by
Atlantic) that didn't do this score justice. Overall,
Message in a
Bottle remains near or at the top of the list of recommendations for
a listener wishing to investigate Yared's work for the first time.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Gabriel Yared reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.11
(in 10 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.18
(in 18,502 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
