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Review of Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
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.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
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. **
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 34:55
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes a list of performers but no extra
information about the score or film.
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