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Review of A Quiet Place: Day One (Alexis Grapsas)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if the accessible, lightly dramatic portions addressing
the human relationships in this movie appealed to you in context, these
many passages warmer than expected.
Avoid it... if you demand continuity with Marco Beltrami's franchise scores, Alexis Grapsas providing competent suspense and horror music but doing so on his own path.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
A Quiet Place: Day One: (Alexis Grapsas) If the
studios and filmmakers learned only one thing from 2020's A Quiet
Place Part II, it was that audiences loved seeing the vicious,
hearing-sensitive creatures from outer space destroying everyday life
for unsuspecting humans upon their initial arrival. During a break in
the primary storyline of the franchise, writer and director John
Krasinski stepped away from the helm to allow for a spin-off prequel to
keep those viewers interested in 2024. In A Quiet Place: Day One,
the creatures are shown landing in and terrorizing New York City, which
is quarantined by the military since the offensive beasts apparently
cannot swim or fly. That's not particularly great news for the people
trapped there, especially the ones with terrible chronic flatulence, and
this story concentrates on a small group trying to escape the island
with, ironically, a cat. The very limited cast has to elude the aliens
while living out what may be their final days in the eerily quiet and
abandoned city. It's yet another movie about everyday people overcoming
some form of the apocalypse, and while audiences did flock to theatres
for the occasion, A Quiet Place: Day One wasn't as well received
critically. With the changeover in director came several crew swap-outs,
and veteran composer Marco Beltrami did not return for this third movie
in the series. Instead, novice director Michael Sarnoski brought in the
composer from his only prior movie to tackle the project. If you were
unfamiliar with Greek composer Alexis Grapsas at the time of this
score's debut, then you were not alone. His work of the previous decade
had been defined by mundane television series and substandard B-rate
films, none of which competing with A Quiet Place: Day One in
mainstream, big-screen recognition. Although Beltrami concocted a truly
unique sound for the franchise, Grapsas handles the topic from a fresh
perspective, with no overt connections to the Beltrami scores and his
distinctive detuned piano technique by design.
Grapsas' take on the concept is fairly conservative but far more compelling and interesting than it could have been. There are some thriller conventions and a touch of Tom Holkenborg temp track bleed-through to contend with, but generally speaking, his score provides decent action material and a surprising amount of dramatic warmth to its character interactions. While producing a standalone entry thematically in the franchise, Grapsas acquits himself well in finding a satisfying balance of drama and horror. Instrumentally, Grapsas plays it safe in A Quiet Place: Day One, using growling, distorted synthetic effects for the aliens and symphonic tones for the humans. The former is also supplied heartbeat-like sounds at times, shifting towards outright nasty and aggressive brass inflection during chase scenes. The portions of the score meant to build empathy for the humans is mostly organic, strings, piano, and woodwinds providing a significant amount of tonal appeal to several sections of the score as the minimal cast is shown alone and coping together. The third portion of the work is its weakness; generic suspense ambience without much interest languishes in "Silence is Survival," "Burning Bridges," "Make No Noise," "They Are Attracted to Sound," and "A Quiet City," but at least these portions don't attempt to overwhelm the soundscape with dissonance. The rest of the score is evenly divided between the thematic development for the humans and the aliens. Grapsas provides material for both the lead character, Samira, and the concept of humanity's hope generally in the work, and they easily compliment each other. The former is a slightly yearning but tepid and unmemorable idea explored in "Samira's Theme" while the latter is expanded with more optimism and friendliness from piano and strings in "Marionette." These two ideas are summarized organically and nicely in "You Can Hear It When You're Quiet (Finale Suite)," the theme for hope in particular an attractive exploration. The chords of Samira's theme are more prevalent than the melody itself at times, vaguely atmospheric with synths in "Months, Days, Hours" and struggling to emerge late in "Manhattan Crowd Chaos." The hope theme in A Quiet Place: Day One, meanwhile, returns to "Marionette" vibrance and optimism in "The Magic Trick." These ideas are boiled down to bare bones on strings in "Memories of Father in Harlem," eventually gain form by the end of "Not Before We Get Pizza," and touch upon the hope motif with muted resiliency in "Quiet Friendship." They are briefly referenced early in "Shelter Near Water," provide subtle chord influences in "They Are Attracted to Sound," are reduced to minimal presence in "Stop Following Me," and supply a solemn solo string effect in "Bringing Her Home (Bonus Track)." On the flip side, what Grapsas refers to as his "monster theme" is a base motif that rises up and down an octave with ascending two-note bass string phrases on top. Interestingly, it shares some characteristics with the humans' hope theme in its ascending and descending motions. The villain material is distorted on synthetics at the outset of "90 Decibels," dominates in "Subway Tunnels (Monster Theme)," fragments in the frantic orchestral mayhem of "Revolving Door," and barely teases in the sustained suspense of "Day One." It resorts to bass pounding on key at the outset of "Manhattan Crowd Chaos," laces some of the abrasive pulsating action in "Run to the Boats," and stews menacingly in "Learning the Rules." It shows its malleability as it turns to brass force in the middle of "Shelter Near Water," churns through the bass in the sparse "Dead Silent" and "A Quiet City," and recurs in full action mode in "Underwater Chase" on synths and brass. Overall, the score for A Quiet Place: Day One is proficient and at times engaging. Its suspense and action music, while competent, isn't spectacular, but it doesn't need to be. Ten to fifteen minutes of the very accessible thematic material for the humans will be an easy highlight. The Milan Records album containing the score does not feature Nina Simone's famous 1965 recording of "Feeling Good" that figures prominently at the narrative's defiant but melancholy end. (The iconic brass lines in that song are certain to drive the aliens nuts.) That product is inexplicably out of chronological order, spoiling the narrative experience. Still, the score is a win overall for Grapsas, who delivers the needed goods in his major mainstream cinematic debut. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 72:28
NOTES & QUOTES:
There exists no official packaging for this album.
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