Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #555
Written 3/4/05, Revised 10/7/11
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Buy it... only if you were very closely touched by the film itself
and have an established respect for the somber, low-key ambience of
Clint Eastwood's musical style.
Avoid it... if the obvious technical simplicity of Eastwood's very
basic music and its passionless performances leave you hopelessly bored
or emotionally disengaged.
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| Eastwood |
Million Dollar Baby: (Clint Eastwood) Edging the
Martin Scorsese film The Aviator for the best picture and best
director honors at the 2005 Academy Awards, Million Dollar Baby
earned Clint Eastwood both of those Oscars, as well as acting awards for
the film's other two top stars. The 25th film for Eastwood as a director
continues his trend towards telling the gripping tales of inner demons
and perseverance of character, often with spectacular critical result.
And while Eastwood has excelled at portraying the raw, genuine emotions
that his own acting performances in his hit Westerns of decades ago
typically lacked, his award-caliber films also have a morbid sense of
darkness about them that often leads to the subjects of maiming and
death. Million Dollar Baby falls along all of these familiar
patterns, providing the story of a young female boxer and a hardened
boxing trainer, both struggling with their own failed family
relationships. In the process of tuning the woman's boxing talents to
top form (begrudgingly for the trainer), the two serve to inspire and
frustrate each other to positive psychological ends. The tragedy that
occurs as the story progresses is necessary to understand the emotional
stance of the soundtrack, though it should be noted that despite the
general unhappiness that prevails in the film, the score was also
considered a critical and popular success. Rarely do critics unanimously
praise a film so universally, and because of this situation, the score
for Million Dollar Baby received an album release when one was
really not otherwise merited. Marking the fifth venture as a solo
composer for one of his films, Million Dollar Baby continues the
same kind of very low-key ambience from Eastwood. He had already been
recognized by major awarding bodies for his compositions for his films
in the 2000's, so it wasn't entirely surprising when he landed Golden
Globe and Grammy nominations for Million Dollar Baby (he filed
paperwork too late for his score to be eligible for an Oscar nomination,
though). Such nominations were likely based on sentimentality for
Eastwood's other talents rather than his musical abilities. As usual, he
took solo credit for his composition while continuing to utilize the
services of longtime collaborators such as Lennie Niehaus to assist in
adapting, orchestrating, arranging, and conducting the score.
For those who are best familiar with Eastwood's music
through
Mystic River, be aware that
Million Dollar Baby is
a step back from the deeper instrumental usage of that score. For this
project, Eastwood relies upon 25 musicians (23 strings, one piano, and
one acoustic guitar) to produce the very basic, necessary soundscape. To
say that the attitude of the music is grim would be only partially true.
If you were to describe this score as a chamber orchestra piece meant
only for live performance on the small stage, then perhaps the work
would represent the season of autumn, longing for something past but
also respectful of its own colors and future darkness. Eastwood's music
is technically very simple; there are probably hundreds of college
graduate students studying film music at any moment who could write
something more varied and complex. But such simplicity seems to suffice
to the degree that Eastwood figures he needs music as a supporting
element in his pictures. Basically repeating the same two generic themes
over and over for its entire length, the score for
Million Dollar
Baby is mundane in style and nearly devoid of spirit. Obviously, an
early choice was made to avoid emotionally engaging material during
fighting scenes. Strings perform in slow strokes without counterpoint,
and the piano and guitar often contribute mostly in solo circumstances
(the guitar, for instance, does not ever join the piano or strings for a
full ensemble effect). As such, Eastwood only accomplishes the
foundational respect that the music needs to be functional on a minimal
level. Could it have been done better? Certainly, and the score does
yearn for the more outward sensitivity that someone like Jerry Goldsmith
could have balanced well with the cloudiness of the film had it existed
ten years earlier. It is uncertain whether Eastwood continues to score
his own films because he truly enjoys writing music or simply to save
money and time (though the former is likely the right answer). How do
you judge the underdeveloped and structurally passionless music of a man
who is otherwise a fantastic producer, director, and actor? And to what
extent should Niehaus and others be given credit (or insulted) for that
music? Overall, Eastwood's talents in the musical realm are
frustratingly insufficient, technically obvious in their novice origins.
The 29 minutes of stark, mundane score on the
Million Dollar Baby
album is overshadowed by two jazz/blues cuts written and performed by
Eastwood's son, Kyle (a well known musician in the New York jazz
community), and his collaborator, Michael Stevens. In the end, the
product will only be of interest to those who were very closely touched
by the film itself.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
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