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| Bernstein |
Twilight: (Elmer Bernstein) The premise of
Twilight deals with people who are past their prime and are
suffering in how they deal with their fates. It boasts a phenomenal cast
worth interest in the film alone, and each of the major characters is
adapting to the fact that their powerful lives are being drained away by
the effects of age. Paul Newman, Gene Hackman, Susan Sarandon, James
Garner, and Stockard Channing exist in a twisted plot of murder and
intrigue, set in contemporary times but living in the atmosphere of a
film noir setting. Newman is a stumbling detective, ruined by drink and
age, who lives with his friends, former studio powerhouses Hackman and
Sarandon, and unravels a unsavory plot involving them with the help of
some old Los Angeles friends. A plastic performance by Newman, who
gained significant recognition for his work in writer and director
Robert Benton's
Nobody's Fool, sinks a film already battling a
disappointingly cliched script. In his attempt to create the ultimate in
film noir mysteries with a magnificent cast and crew, Benton and partner
Richard Russo limited themselves to scrounging around for every old
trick in the genre from 40 years prior. With a predictable and
unsatisfying plot,
Twilight was largely rejected by critics and
failed to attract the kind of arthouse crowds it needed for success. One
part of the strong production crew that failed to live up to
expectations for
Twilight was composer Elmer Bernstein, whose
role in providing music for a noir film was well conceived. But the
issues dealt with on screen also applied to Bernstein's own career.
Despite having two strong scores still ahead of him in the twilight of
his own career, his production was beginning to wane, his sound treading
dangerously close to John Barry's level of potential ineffectiveness.
But as a representative of a distant era, his involvement in such
cultural statements as
Twilight and
Far From Heaven would
seem appropriate. Unfortunately, his score here partly falls victim to
his pressured attempt to resurrect the ambience desired by the
filmmakers.
Without a doubt, Bernstein accomplishes a score that
fits squarely into the noir category that those filmmakers were hoping
to achieve. Everything about the music for
Twilight drips with
the same atmosphere as the film's photography, and to this end,
Bernstein succeeds. But just because the era is right doesn't
necessarily mean that this particular score would work well back then or
now. Bernstein lifts several mechanisms from Bernard Herrmann, almost as
an extension of his re-recording of
Cape Fear in 1991. Meandering
dissonant strings exist under ominous, muted trumpets. Multiple lines of
theme are overlaid without regard to tone or rhythm. Sudden strikes
pierce a perpetually tumultuous bed of suspense led by piano, strings,
and woodwinds. Much of
Twilight is mundane, however, leaving you
waiting in your own sense of suspense for the next timpani and
piano-pounding moment of fright. The most notable action sequence can be
heard in "Betrayal," with terrifying rambling in the lowest ranges of
the piano accentuating morbidly alternating rhythms of harsh brass.
Bernstein seems undecided about how much noir theme to integrate into
the score; he restrains it to the opening and closing moments, with
muted brass and light percussion of a 40's band performing the film's
subtle theme. Outside of those cues, as well as the full-blown dance
hall piece in "Jubilation," little exists to overtly suggest the era.
The Ondes Martenot plays a dual role, invoking the mystery of dark
streets while also providing that other-worldly sound that had defined
Bernstein's late career. The instrument, by 1998, had worn out its
welcome with many listeners, and its inclusion in
Twilight seems
unnecessary. The subthemes that it performs are washed out by the
score's droning atmosphere because of very slight mixing. Some people
refer to
Twilight as a score that successfully proves that "less
is more." Sometimes, though, "less is underachieving," and this is the
case with
Twilight. A few noteworthy tracks break the somber
mood, including the source track "Pier Music," which suffers from a
likely-intentional imbalance in mix, and "Bye Bye Mucho," the highlight
cue that sets Bernstein's easy 40's themes to a Latin/tango-like rhythm.
Otherwise, even after repeated listens,
Twilight is a bore.
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| Bias Check: |
For Elmer Bernstein reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.25
(in 18 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.16
(in 10,283 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert notes include a short paragraph from the director of the film, but has no extra information about the
score. The score was recorded in December, 1997.
