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Review of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (Nellee Hooper/Craig Armstrong/Marius DeVries)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... on the "Volume 2" soundtrack album if you seek the most
accurate representation of the extremely disparate collection of highly
melodramatic and stylish music you actually heard in the film.
Avoid it... if you demand the continuity of Moulin Rouge in this related format, for the similar highlights of this practice run are likely not worth the flawed album presentation for anyone other than fanatic enthusiasts of the film.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet: (Nellee
Hooper, Craig Armstrong, and Marius DeVries) Among critics, there
wouldn't be much disagreement that within writer and director Baz
Luhrmann's famed "Red Curtain Trilogy," the musical sensibilities and
stylistic experimentation in Strictly Ballroom and William
Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet were practice runs for Moulin
Rouge in 2001. While neither of its predecessors reached the same
overwhelming combination of critical and popular support that Moulin
Rouge enjoyed, there is without a doubt a devoted fan following for
all of them. Few pop culture hits are as enduring as Luhrmann's
translation of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" play in 1996, a stark
contrast in approach to Kenneth Branagh's massive version of
Hamlet released concurrently. For the fictional world of
Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, the director
creates the ethnically embattled city of Verona (likely modeled after
Miami) and blurs the lines of its temporal setting, including visual
elements ranging from the 1940's to 1990's. The lines from the play are
badly butchered and performed without much depth by its cast, though
fangirls across the world were never the less entranced by Leonardo
DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the lead roles. The awkward mixtures of the
spoken performances and the odd art direction and soundtrack led to
significant disdain from some of the industry's foremost reviewers.
Roger Ebert extended his scathing criticism to Luhrmann's choice of
soundtrack format, singling out the music as being symbolic of the
film's completely reckless and unanchored purpose (he also went on to
say that the 1996 score is "a dim contrast to Nino Rota's great music
for the Zeffirelli Romeo and Juliet in 1968."). This criticism
was to be expected, however, because Luhrmann merged a classical score
with heavy rock, punk, and R&B tones, usually in stark contrast to one
another from scene to scene. The narrative's adjoining scenes often have
no musical continuity whatsoever, opting like the visuals to be handled
on a moment by moment basis. Melodramatic orchestral and choral bombast
can segue to pulsating techno and R&B material in an instant and vice
versa. It's the kind of soundtrack that appeals to the masses because of
its song usage (including a few notable cover versions of famous titles)
and then solicits those mainstream listeners to make ill-advised,
overly-positive commentary about the orchestral score as well.
For those devoted to the picture, as with any Luhrmann production of this variety, this soundtrack is loved across all of its genres. It's easy to hear what the director and his trusty team of collaborators were trying to accomplish, because the formula was much the same for Moulin Rouge. In both films, the love stories were given a tragic, classical and choral identity, relatively conservative in tone while capturing a sense of yearning and loss. The two soundtracks' interaction between their romance material and their other halves, unfortunately, is where Romeo + Juliet stumbles and Moulin Rouge excels. The integration between the brash and snazzy material of Moulin Rouge's club-related song adaptations and the romance music wasn't as frightfully indigestible as the split between the lovers' music in Romeo + Juliet and that which represents the larger battle between their families that rages around them. The fine balance of Moulin Rouge never existed in Romeo + Juliet, therefore, and restricts the earlier soundtrack to only the die-hard enthusiasts of the film. For film score collectors, there isn't as much crossover appeal in Romeo + Juliet as well. The project represented the first major breakthrough into film music for the trio of Nellee Hooper, Craig Armstrong, and Marius DeVries, who were responsible for arranging and producing some of the most popular pop songs of the late 1990's. The latter two would go on to share writing and adapting duties for Moulin Rouge. While Nellee Hooper is listed as the primary composer for the film, it has more commonly been associated with Craig Armstrong within the film score world, perhaps a byproduct of Armstrong's later successes in that industry. There has never been a clear delineation of duties in the composition of this score, though Armstrong did include the cues "O Verona," "The Balcony Scene," and an abbreviated version of "Death Scene" (leaving off the grim dialogue and sound effect) on his compilation "Craig Armstrong: Film Works 1995-2005." What you get from him in this impressive debut is exactly what you'd expect: plenty of string arrangements, occasional piano solos, and a few monumental requiem-format choral pieces. The reliance on string layers for nearly all of the duties in the performance of the love theme for the film is actually somewhat disappointing, for without the inclusion of woodwind and brass accompaniment of significant prominence (outside of a few woodwind arpeggios in a few minutes), these often lengthy cues will test the patience of some listeners. The softer portions of the trademark Armstrong score are pleasant, though a potential bore compared to the remainder of Romeo + Juliet's soundtrack. The melody of the love theme is based on the song "Kissing You," heard elsewhere in vocal form in the film, and in the instrumental variations in "Kissing You (Instrumental)" and "Balcony Scene" there are some purely coincidental but distracting similarities in progression to one of the two primary phrases in Alan Silvestri's main theme for Back to the Future (indeed, you can imagine why that would raise an eyebrow or two). Far more interesting and effective is the monumental "O Verona," which accompanies the striking opening scene in the film with huge choral exclamations of the kind that were equally popular in Armstrong's later Plunkett and Macleane. This piece is utilized twice in the score and unfortunately is not adapted into more subtle incarnations elsewhere. A variation in "Mercutio's Death," finally giving the trumpets an overdue lead role, was obvious inspiration for the very similar climax in Plunkett and Macleane, even down to the almost painful screeching of the female singers as their rolling crescendo reaches its extremely elevated conclusion. In other corners of the score, there is a continuation of the conservative string meandering in "Slow Movement" and beautiful operatic solo voice in "Death Scene" that will appeal to orchestral score collectors. Outside of these cues, there is material that ranges from bad Ennio Morricone imitations ("Gas Station Scene") to Hammond organ and percussion coolness of a 70's variety ("Introduction to Romeo") and purely urban, groovy R&B tones ("A Challenge"). Action and suspense material in "Fight Scene" and "Drive of Death" strays from weak Armstrong jabs to electronica rhythms foreshadowing Don Davis' The Matrix Reloaded. The latter style also informs the frantic, culturally vague "Escape From Mantua." Solemn vocal proclamations in "Juliet's Requiem," "Mantua," and the adaptation of Richard Wagner in "Liebestod" are surprisingly undermixed (with low gains) and lacking in convincing power. Together, this material still, for the most part, will sound very familiar to enthusiasts of Armstrong's work. If you appreciate his lighter string arrangements, there will be ten minutes of lovely material (though not entirely of his own thematic creation) to appreciate. The choral cues, collectively amounting to about five minutes of stoic and forceful drama, are also appealing. The rest, unfortunately, isn't cohesive to any degree and offers few individual highlights. The album situation for Romeo + Juliet is, like Moulin Rouge, a frustrating mess. Those seeking complete "soundtracks" of either will have the best luck taking what they can off of the numerous albums for such films and then inserting direct DVD rips of the remaining material in context. Unfortunately, for score collectors, the albums don't offer a break from that context either. The first Romeo + Juliet product to hit the shelves in 1996 was devoted to the songs heard in the film, some of which not the original performances that those who loved the film were hoping for. Three of the songs missing from that product (including a "Ballroom Version" of "Young Hearts Run Free" that will strongly remind of the Hindi portion of Moulin Rouge in its opening), along with a significant portion of the Hooper, Armstrong, and DeVries score, were assembled for a "Volume 2" album released just a few months later. The first album was a huge financial success, selling over seven million copies and ensuring financial viability for Moulin Rouge. The second CD performed extremely well for what essentially is a film score album, finding its way into over a million collections. The score was subsequently nominated for a BAFTA, but no American awards. Frustrating for many Romeo + Juliet enthusiasts was the choice to include a healthy amount of dialogue and sound effects from the film over practically each track on the second album, giving it the feel of a Robert Rodriguez El Mariachi franchise product. The dialogue is often placed in important moments of score cues, not to mention mixed so badly as to create problems with audibility (the text is difficult to understand even when clearly enunciated, so the volume issues are especially problematic). Sound effects such as screeching tires and wailing sirens in "Escape From Mantua" damn near ruin the track's forceful appeal. A notable gunshot follows a minute of silence. The inclusion of the news broadcasts at the beginning and end seem token. The only really impressive dialogue worth hearing is the narration in the first "O Verona" cue, though even this obscures one of the composers' most impressive recordings for the film. A 10th anniversary product in 2007 offered some differently arranged material, but nothing of note. Ultimately, like Moulin Rouge, you simply have to be a fan of this film to appreciate the format and presentation of its songs and score. Armstrong collectors may be able to pull a few cues without engaging the rest, but the dialogue is prohibitive of such enjoyment. Unfortunately, Romeo + Juliet is nowhere near Moulin Rouge in terms of quality on screen, so be careful to limit your expectations here. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 65:34
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes extensive credits, but no extra information about the
score or film.
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