wasn't glorious in the
reception it received at its debut in 2002, but its plot, inspired by
true events, plays with the audience as it tells the story of an
arsonist in Southern California who is setting retail stores on fire to
satisfy his ego. Meanwhile, an accomplished fire investigator in the
area is tracking the criminal, visualizing how the fires were started
and giving his department a psychological profile of the arsonist. The
detective writes about these experiences using a typewriter, and as he
becomes more intertwined with the mental recreations of the arsonist's
actions, the audience slowly learns that the arsonist and the detective
are, of course, one and the same. Composer John Ottman would accept the
assignment of
at the request of his friend and
associate Tom Sigel, director of the film and a fellow crew member on
. Returning to the small
screen in 2002 for the first time in many years, Ottman's feature film
compositions had existed for projects all over the map. The concept of
this small venture was intriguing enough for Ottman to snatch up its
scoring duties with great anticipation of the psychological avenues that
could be developed in the music. Ottman did as any smart composer should
do in these circumstances: write separate themes and motifs for the
arsonist and the detective and slowly integrate them over the course of
the film into one identity. As the composer stated upon completing the
score,
came at a time when he was ready for
another psychological score, and he does not disappoint with his smart
choices.
Over the early years of his career, Ottman toyed
considerably with the psyche of his projects' characters, and while the
plotline of
Point of Origin is rather simple and predictable, it
still allowed him to root around with another intelligently planned
score for psychological identity. Due to extreme budget constraints,
however, Ottman himself would be the primary performer. Before you groan
in agony over that revelation, keep in mind that Ottman was established
as being among the more creative minds of the younger generation of
Hollywood composers, and
Point of Origin is a perfect example of
why budget restrictions should have no bearing on the quality of the
result. As far as substance is concerned, Ottman's score is constructed
from his collection of synthesized samples and rhythms. While that dooms
many composers, Ottman's assembly of electronic sounds is wildly
imaginative and distinctly original compared to similar synthesizer
effects of other artists. The faux-woodwind theme for the investigator
is an alternating series of the same chord in major and minor keys, set
to a sophisticated, bass-heavy rhythm. Ottman also utilizes an acoustic
guitar to perform the family theme for the character, luring the
audience into a false sense of security regarding the detective. When
shifting into the alter ego, a snazzier ("cool," as Ottman calls it)
theme for distant trumpet and drums is set to a dancing piano rhythm
that's mischievous (and yet slightly sinister) in its performance.
During the majority of the work, and establishing itself in the latter
half of "Thinking It," Ottman pours on the same gothic tone that
permeated
The Usual Suspects, staying consistent to his
mannerisms in this genre. A slight hint of noir style with a distant
trumpet effect in "Spying" is a welcome addition for the occasion.
Crossing over between all of these performances is the
key element of personality in
Point of Origin: the typewriter.
Ottman pulls this technique out of the hat early in the score, and its
careful integration directly into the music is what makes this score a
uniquely enjoyable listening experience. With the sound effects taken
directly from the detective's typewriter as heard in the film, Ottman
applies four sounds from the machine into the rhythms. First, the
keystrokes are mixed in two different ways: a light stroke and a
dual-layered, more intense stroke of multiple keys. With the keys
flowing freely in perfect step with the rhythms, Ottman then adds the
sliding carriage and ringing bell as crescendo accents, sometimes
regularly highlighting each bar of the rhythm (the carriage itself would
make a great percussion instrument). The combination of the two themes
into one rhythm, set to the typewriter at full employment, transforms
the cue "Feeding the Ego" into an addictive piece. Variations on the
typewriter's effects exist throughout the score, and their integration
into several of the cues makes
Point of Origin the kind of highly
original and interesting work that impresses even if you can't
appreciate the relatively shallow depth of the recording. There is a
mass of rather bland underscore existing in between the psychologically
inspired moments (including some of Ottman's usual faux-choral effects),
but the five or so cues set to deep bass and drums, synth woodwinds, and
rhythms laced with typewriter sounds are not to be missed any Ottman
collector. If only this work had been able to be fleshed out and
orchestrated for a moderate symphonic group, the strong ideas in
Ottman's
Point of Origin would likely have merited four stars. In
an industry in which you think you've heard it all done before, however,
Ottman continues to intrigue with his ability to give a score an
overwhelming (and often listenable) personality on the slightest of
budgets.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For John Ottman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.17
(in 35 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.05
(in 19,894 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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