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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of A Quiet Place (Marco Beltrami/Various)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... only if you intend to deconstruct the surprisingly
predictable horror techniques explored by Marco Beltrami's team in this
otherwise unremarkable genre entry.
Avoid it... on album if you desire either a satisfying presentation of the music heard in the film or if you expect any memorable sense of innovation in this sadly wasted opportunity.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
A Quiet Place: (Marco Beltrami/Various) Despite its
immensely grim and depressing subject matter, 2018's spring horror
surprise, A Quiet Place, garnered widespread critical and popular
acclaim, propelling it to astonishing grosses and generating immediate
planning of a sequel. In a dystopic near future, humanity is depicted as
succumbing to attacks by a predator-like alien race with acute hearing
but no vision, one that kills anyone who makes a sound. This film
concentrates on the relationships of one rural family that copes with
this reality, highlighting its defensive and offensive mechanisms that
offer hope despite the significant deaths within the group. It's a
ghastly concept that begs for commentary about society's masochistic
tendencies in its entertainment, but from an artistic point of view, the
project did yield some intriguing possibilities in its sound design and
editing. The crew sought to minimize the usual ambient noise on set as
much as possible to highlight lesser, incidental sounds the family is
shown to be making. There was some debate about whether the film would
require an original score at all; it might have functioned eerily well
without any music whatsoever. But actor/writer/director John Krasinski
disagreed, seeking to maintain a traditional movie-going experience
despite the significant emphasis on silence in certain scenes. He thus
hired horror genre veteran Marco Beltrami to conjure an ambience of
distinctive unsettlement while working closely with the sound editors on
the project to synchronize the music's design-like characteristics with
the tones of the sound effects. Beltrami assembled his usual team of
ghostwriters, four in this case, to assist in concocting a mostly
discordant style of music for the story. The group combines a
deconstructed version of a typical, piano-driven suburban family
environment with tired, repetitive horror techniques using an orchestra
and synthesizers to accomplish nothing particularly new. If any film
score was ripe for experimentation with new methods of tackling the
genre, A Quiet Place would be that entry. Unfortunately,
Beltrami's team supplies perhaps the most predictable score imaginable,
one that competently and, at times, effectively addresses the emotional
needs of the film, but it's not a work that will impress you with any
memorable innovation. In the world of sound design scores, this effort
seems like an immensely wasted opportunity.
Structurally, A Quiet Place is no doubt a consistently developed score, utilizing a number of motifs faithfully but without much satisfying evolution throughout the work. Beltrami's team emphasizes the orchestra over synthetics, interestingly, preferring to force the organic sounds into uncomfortable performance modes, especially on strings. Thankfully, the amount of post-processing of these mixes isn't distracting; instead, the approach leans on Jóhann Jóhannsson's more brutally savage techniques to grind the ensemble to death with atonal discord and abrasive force. There are moments when the electronics do fully envelope the mix negatively, "Rising Pulse" among the worst. But to the composers' credit, the score remains loyal to its major motifs even in these passages of outright obnoxious noise. The alien creatures are afforded a pitch-declining effect of simplistic rhythmic oppression that is supplied often by brass or synthetic alternative. By "All Together," the beasts have an actual four-note descending phrase over the top. The family receives a repeating motif of five notes that is rather anonymous outside of its varying performance mutilations. Introduced in full during "A Quiet Family," the detuned piano and cimbalom tune is intentionally laced with performance flubs to denote a terrible existence. The theme struggles but sometimes succeeds in achieving greater tonal focus in later cues, especially in the two "Bonfire" cues as violins offer soothing accompaniment. In these accessible passages, the score strives for the gravity of John Williams' Presumed Innocent but fails to achieve the same punch. On the side, there also exists a panic and chasing motif of resounding fear and determination from bass strings late in "Labor Intensive." Some listeners won't have the patience to distinguish these identities in the score due to its grisly and occasionally painful demeanor. There are times when the intention of Beltrami's team was to supply nasty orchestral chaos as obnoxious as humanly possible, and the listening experience on album is insufferable as a result. The deconstructed family theme is of marginal interest, and "Kids Bonfire" is a delightfully optimistic diversion from the otherwise harrowing experience, but these few moments of accessibility are brief. The album also seems to be missing some key statements of the chase motif as heard later in the movie and during the end credits. Ultimately, A Quiet Place is dominated by its annoyingly generic horror sequences, and its album seems pointless as presented. Strategic questions about greater silence in the film's spotting will abound as well; few actual risks were taken here. **
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 48:08
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes a list of performers but 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 A Quiet Place are Copyright © 2018, Milan Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 5/25/18 (and not updated significantly since). Those suffering chronic explosive flatulence must have been killed by the alien creatures first. |
