 |
| Göransson |
Tenet: (Ludwig Göransson) Despite all the
hype,
Tenet is a surprisingly pointless exercise in film music
experimentation that doesn't push the envelope either forwards or
backwards. Appended to that album presentation is a hip-hop song that
fits surprisingly well with the score, and a "Deluxe Edition" of the
product adds 10 minutes of pointlessly anonymous, pounding action music
from the two lengthy score cues. Ultimately, the score is a distracting
mess on screen and strangely a bore on album. There are moments of hope
in the work, like the crescendo of keyboards and electric guitar in the
middle of "Foils," that start to peel back some emotional layers, but
they never get far. A cue like "Freeport," with its pulsating
insect-like electronic effects against a meandering exploration of the
main theme, does nothing to extend the narrative or sustain much of a
mood on album. But the remainder of the score, both in suspense and
action, is largely devoid of the needed character to make it engaging
enough to enjoy or awful enough to laugh at. There is some contemplative
new-agey, Vangelis-inspired atmosphere in moments like "Windmills" and
"The Protagonist," and the aforementioned summary of the main theme in
"The Algorithm" is largely palatable despite its battle with atonality.
The most surprising aspect of Göransson's music for
Tenet is
how boring it is in the majority of cues. The composer does prove that
Zimmer's trademark "horn of doom" can't be stopped in either direction,
however, adapted for growling guitar-like effects in the nasty "Rainy
Night in Tallinn" opera opening but returning during the rolling airplane
sequence in "747" in more expected foghorn brass form, even if it's
joined by a little
Black Panther coolness from electric bass.
Ironically, despite the temptation to litter the whole score with such
obnoxiousness, Göransson actually doesn't intentionally try to
damage listener's brains all that often, "Rainy Night in Tallinn" joining
the Sator material in leading that assault but the tone of the rest of
the score a little more muted. In the event you want a little more
eroticism from the Nolan breathing and whale noises, you can appreciate
it again in "Red Room Blue Room." The second half of "Sator" contains
the most heinous film music of several years, aggrieved whale noises and
Nolan's breathing combined with tortured Killmonger material from
Black Panther that together make one of the most effective
roommate torture sounds of all time. The most hysterically awful is the
material for Kenneth Branagh's villain, Sator, who is treated to the
sound effect of Nolan's own breathing since people moving backwards in
time need an oxygen mask to absorb air. Other stabs at musical
creativity in
Tenet are not only ineffective but also laughingly
bad.
For the listener to perceive such a thing, the affected
motifs have to be short and distinct, which these are not. For all the
reported talk about manipulations of the music to match the direction of
the action on screen, none of Göransson's efforts to this end
ultimately work. The accelerating distorted note that occupies the end
of "Meeting Neil" is another example of this cheapness. This film needed
more than stupid backwards edits, reverse reverb, and the use of
partially reversed elements in a mix presented forwards to give some
semblance of normalcy; the worst of this material exists in "Trucks in
Place," which is a laughably poor cue with these techniques. The
flipping of performances so they are backwards, or, alternately, the
recording of the progressions backwards and then flipping them so that
they move forwards, is more of a cheap reverb trick that doesn't cut it
here. The simplicity of this theme allows the composer to flip around
those progressions for a backwards version of the idea that doesn't
really reveal itself until "The Algorithm," which serves as the defacto
suite presentation of the idea on album. Göransson's one theme for
Tenet is dominant, its forwards-facing version starting with a
single note and then meandering through pairs after that. All of these
performers have to contend with a final mix that emphasizes droning
ambient delusion rather than a cohesive narrative intent. Guitars
occasionally offer some depth as well. The instrumentation does contain
strings, brass and percussion associated with an orchestral ensemble,
but these elements are never truly organic in the film. Instead,
synthetic manipulation of electronic keyboarding and loops provides the
bulk of the experience. Unfortunately, some of his tactics are also too
predictable. The result of Göransson's toils indicates, as
expected, that the composer sought to bend the rules of film scoring to
augment the warped perceptions of the film's basic tenets, and so it's
no surprise that his music doesn't follow many conventional film scoring
strategies. As such, there's just as much Jóhann
Jóhannsson and Hildur Guðnadóttir influence on the
general approach to executing Nolan's ideas as there is from Zimmer's
Dunkirk and
Inception. Keep in mind that much of
Göransson's approach to
Tenet was dictated by Nolan, and
when he did have an opportunity to explore his own paths, the trend
toward post-modern, manipulated ambience as an artistic statement in
film music informs the rest.
Composer Hans Zimmer had become accustomed to Nolan's
extremely engaged role in determining the style, character, and
placement of his film scores, and with the veteran unable to fit
Tenet into his schedule, rising darling of experimental coolness,
Ludwig Göransson, was called upon to produce essentially the exact
same result that Zimmer would have. The film's music thus became a
controversial subject, as it was often obnoxiously placed in the mix and
thus worsened the plot's already dubious clarity. The sound mix of
Tenet was especially ridiculed, as Nolan intentionally dialed
back dialogue in favor of sound effects and music in order to emphasize
ambience over substance. Unfortunately for Warner Brothers, the delays
and muted box office returns from the cinemas caused the movie to lose
$50 to $100 million overall, a tremendous failure due also in part to
the concept's extremely disorienting narrative and distracting
post-production elements. Nolan refused to allow the global pandemic to
force
Tenet into digital streaming, so it represented the first
major picture to appear back in theatres when they started re-opening.
One goal is to offer sequences first backwards and then explain them by
repeating them moving forwards, and the whole thing is wildly
disorienting. Rather than exploring this concept with intrigue, Nolan
instead takes it to all-out warfare with global destruction at stake,
allowing for a senseless series of fight and battle scenes shown with
characters from both forwards and backwards timelines together. Being a
Nolan film, the characters are flimsy and necessary only to convey the
mind-bending concept and all the visual and aural splendor that comes
with them. They can interact with forward-moving people and objects and
essentially affect the past by doing do. With a full disclaimer that
nothing in
Tenet is meant to be scientifically accurate, he
postulates that a future techo-wizard device can shift people into a
reverse of time, where they experience life but in real-time reverse
order. He seems to delight in making movie-goers ask that question of
themselves, and 2020's
Tenet may finally be the proof that it is
indeed Nolan who requires psychiatric assistance. One has to start
wondering if filmmaker Christopher Nolan is mentally ill.
One has to start wondering if filmmaker Christopher Nolan
is mentally ill. He seems to delight in making movie-goers ask that
question of themselves, and 2020's
Tenet may finally be the proof
that it is indeed Nolan who requires psychiatric assistance. With a full
disclaimer that nothing in
Tenet is meant to be scientifically
accurate, he postulates that a future techo-wizard device can shift
people into a reverse of time, where they experience life but in
real-time reverse order. They can interact with forward-moving people
and objects and essentially affect the past by doing do. Being a Nolan
film, the characters are flimsy and necessary only to convey the
mind-bending concept and all the visual and aural splendor that comes
with them. Rather than exploring this concept with intrigue, Nolan
instead takes it to all-out warfare with global destruction at stake,
allowing for a senseless series of fight and battle scenes shown with
characters from both forwards and backwards timelines together. One goal
is to offer sequences first backwards and then explain them by repeating
them moving forwards, and the whole thing is wildly disorienting. Nolan
refused to allow the global pandemic to force
Tenet into digital
streaming, so it represented the first major picture to appear back in
theatres when they started re-opening. Unfortunately for Warner
Brothers, the delays and muted box office returns from the cinemas
caused the movie to lose $50 to $100 million overall, a tremendous
failure due also in part to the concept's extremely disorienting
narrative and distracting post-production elements. The sound mix of
Tenet was especially ridiculed, as Nolan intentionally dialed
back dialogue in favor of sound effects and music in order to emphasize
ambience over substance. The film's music thus became a controversial
subject, as it was often obnoxiously placed in the mix and thus worsened
the plot's already dubious clarity. Composer Hans Zimmer had become
accustomed to Nolan's extremely engaged role in determining the style,
character, and placement of his film scores, and with the veteran unable
to fit
Tenet into his schedule, rising darling of experimental
coolness, Ludwig Göransson, was called upon to produce essentially
the exact same result that Zimmer would have.
Keep in mind that much of Göransson's approach to
Tenet was dictated by Nolan, and when he did have an opportunity
to explore his own paths, the trend toward post-modern, manipulated
ambience as an artistic statement in film music informs the rest. As
such, there's just as much Jóhann Jóhannsson and Hildur
Guðnadóttir influence on the general approach to executing
Nolan's ideas as there is from Zimmer's
Dunkirk and
Inception. The result of Göransson's toils indicates, as
expected, that the composer sought to bend the rules of film scoring to
augment the warped perceptions of the film's basic tenets, and so it's
no surprise that his music doesn't follow many conventional film scoring
strategies. Unfortunately, some of his tactics are also too predictable.
The instrumentation does contain strings, brass and percussion
associated with an orchestral ensemble, but these elements are never
truly organic in the film. Instead, synthetic manipulation of electronic
keyboarding and loops provides the bulk of the experience. Guitars
occasionally offer some depth as well. All of these performers have to
contend with a final mix that emphasizes droning ambient delusion rather
than a cohesive narrative intent. Göransson's one theme for
Tenet is dominant, its forwards-facing version starting with a
single note and then meandering through pairs after that. The simplicity
of this theme allows the composer to flip around those progressions for
a backwards version of the idea that doesn't really reveal itself until
"The Algorithm," which serves as the defacto suite presentation of the
idea on album. The flipping of performances so they are backwards, or,
alternately, the recording of the progressions backwards and then
flipping them so that they move forwards, is more of a cheap reverb
trick that doesn't cut it here. This film needed more than stupid
backwards edits, reverse reverb, and the use of partially reversed
elements in a mix presented forwards to give some semblance of normalcy;
the worst of this material exists in "Trucks in Place," which is a
laughably poor cue with these techniques. The accelerating distorted
note that occupies the end of "Meeting Neil" is another example of this
cheapness. For all the reported talk about manipulations of the music to
match the direction of the action on screen, none of Göransson's
efforts to this end ultimately work. For the listener to perceive such a
thing, the affected motifs have to be short and distinct, which these
are not.
Other stabs at musical creativity in
Tenet are
not only ineffective but also laughingly bad. The most hysterically
awful is the material for Kenneth Branagh's villain, Sator, who is
treated to the sound effect of Nolan's own breathing since people moving
backwards in time need an oxygen mask to absorb air. The second half of
"Sator" contains the most heinous film music of several years, aggrieved
whale noises and Nolan's breathing combined with tortured Killmonger
material from
Black Panther that together make one of the most
effective roommate torture sounds of all time. In the event you want a
little more eroticism from the Nolan breathing and whale noises, you can
appreciate it again in "Red Room Blue Room." Ironically, despite the
temptation to litter the whole score with such obnoxiousness,
Göransson actually doesn't intentionally try to damage listener's
brains all that often, "Rainy Night in Tallinn" joining the Sator
material in leading that assault but the tone of the rest of the score a
little more muted. The composer does prove that Zimmer's trademark "horn
of doom" can't be stopped in either direction, however, adapted for
growling guitar-like effects in the nasty "Rainy Night in Tallinn" opera
opening but returning during the rolling airplane sequence in "747" in
more expected foghorn brass form, even if it's joined by a little
Black Panther coolness from electric bass. The most surprising
aspect of Göransson's music for
Tenet is how boring it is in
the majority of cues. There is some contemplative new-agey,
Vangelis-inspired atmosphere in moments like "Windmills" and "The
Protagonist," and the aforementioned summary of the main theme in "The
Algorithm" is largely palatable despite its battle with atonality. But
the remainder of the score, both in suspense and action, is largely
devoid of the needed character to make it engaging enough to enjoy or
awful enough to laugh at. A cue like "Freeport," with its pulsating
insect-like electronic effects against a meandering exploration of the
main theme, does nothing to extend the narrative or sustain much of a
mood on album. There are moments of hope in the work, like the crescendo
of keyboards and electric guitar in the middle of "Foils," that start to
peel back some emotional layers, but they never get far. Ultimately, the
score is a distracting mess on screen and strangely a bore on album.
Appended to that album presentation is a hip-hop song that fits
surprisingly well with the score, and a "Deluxe Edition" of the product
adds 10 minutes of pointlessly anonymous, pounding action music from the
two lengthy score cues. Despite all the hype,
Tenet is a
surprisingly pointless exercise in film music experimentation that
doesn't push the envelope either forwards or backwards.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
The cover art is the same on both products. The insert of the
physical version of the album includes extensive information about the
film and score, including notes from both the director and composer.
Printed on the back of the CD's jewel case is "DISC MADE IN MEXICO."
