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Review of Return to Paradise (Mark Mancina)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you can't pull yourself away from lovely, exotic
woodwind and percussion performances that contribute to one of Mark
Mancina's most intoxicating dramatic scores.
Avoid it... if you expect a dramatic intensity in the non-thematic cues to match the thought-provoking nature of the film's character dilemma.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Return to Paradise: (Mark Mancina) If you were
tentative about taking a vacation to East Asia in the 1990's, then
Hollywood wasn't making you feel any better about the prospect. Among a
rash of films depicting Westerners given unreasonable prison sentences
for small crimes (earned or not), Joseph Ruben's Return to
Paradise was among the more thought-provoking. Three young men take
a vacation to Malaysia and the one who stays a bit longer for a
Greenpeace event is arrested for drugs and eventually sentenced to
death. The other two return to New York and carry on normal lives until
the prisoner's attorney arrives from Malaysia two years later in the
form of Anne Heche and gives the two men the option of saving their
friend's life in return for serving prison sentences themselves. The
film is a mixture of exotic pleasure, modern American lifestyles, and an
emotionally powerful dilemma that is resolved in an unexpected and
tragic way. Regardless of the film's examination of morals and its
obvious statement about Malaysian courts, the gorgeous location inspired
much of the crew in its effort to define the kind of beauty that stings.
Composer Mark Mancina had broken away from dependence on Hans Zimmer's
Media Ventures and engaged in his own successful career in the
mid-1990's, but his assignments were typically limited to dumb
blockbuster action or time-wasting comedies. This situation would change
with Moll Flanders and Return to Paradise, though the
first of two suffered from a budget that forced Mancina to rely almost
exclusively on synthesizers to render a composition that begged for an
orchestral recording. For Return to Paradise, the composer gets
the best of both worlds, infusing his gritty electronic writing with
expansive and dramatic orchestral ideas, along with occasionally
mesmerizing solo performances, especially on woodwinds. Addressing both
the beauty of the location and weight of the decisions that need to be
made by the story's characters, Mancina's title theme for Return to
Paradise is an intoxicating highlight of his entire career. While
only three major performances of the theme exist on album, the dozen
minutes of this material are worthy every penny.
In these regards, the Return to Paradise score and album have the same effect as Mancina's late 2001 score for Domestic Disturbance. Both offer themes and renderings reminiscent of another work (Return to Paradise is a descendent of Zimmer's Beyond Rangoon while Domestic Disturbance is a descendent of Jerry Goldsmith's Basic Instinct), and these similarities in style may bother some listeners. But in both cases, you're rewarded with significantly relaxing music early on the two albums if you can look past the obvious inspiration for the styles. The repeating presentation of the theme and an emphasis on interesting percussion and woodwind solos is a binding characteristic of the two. In Return to Paradise, the cues "Looking at You" (the evolution of the love affair near the end of the film) and the suite "Return to Paradise" are stunners, lifted by Fred Selden's performances on exotic and traditional wind instruments. Mancina's use of the exotic sounds suffices for the purposes of the film, but doesn't break any new ground. The score's weakness is its return to an industrial metal sound for the New York scenes; this material is perhaps more consistent with Harry Gregson-Williams' career at the time, and none of it lasts long enough or receives any overarching development to warrant any interest. Early scenes relating to "God's Bathtub" are given pleasant, but non-committal synthetic meandering, and music involving the prison itself is surprisingly subdued as well. The title theme is adapted to keyboard for the love affair between Heche's character and Vince Vaughn's role as one of the friends, though the cues "Desperate Lovers" and "I'll Miss You" somewhat understate the attachment. Scenes of suspense are given nearly the silent treatment, including "Godless Place" and "Arriving in Malaysia," though "The Hanging" is a necessary explosion of high dissonance. An occasional synthetic choir, as in "Second Call," creates an appropriately numbing atmosphere. Overall, the score is adequate at every moment, but rarely interesting outside of the few major thematic statements. Luckily, these elaborations on the theme are lengthy. Their beauty may be somewhat generic and lacking in intensity, but at some point, the rendering is so lovely that you can't pull yourself away. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 43:12
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes 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 Return to Paradise are Copyright © 1998, Varèse Sarabande and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 8/31/99 and last updated 3/30/08. |
