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Review of Widows (Hans Zimmer/Steve Mazzaro)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you have bought into Hans Zimmer's notion that consciously underplaying the impact of his music somehow enhances the narrative weight of the films he scores.

Avoid it... if basic emotional depth is a requirement in your film music, Zimmer failing to generate more than the most minimal level of ambient drama and obnoxious rhythmic action.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Widows: (Hans Zimmer/Steve Mazzaro) The relatively young career of writer and director Steve McQueen has proven that he is not afraid to tackle challenging topics relating to racism, sexism, interracial marriage, and police brutality, and 2018's Widows managed to fold all of those explorations into the context of a revenge heist story. The supposed widows of a gang of thieves killed in a botched robbery involving politicians and crime bosses in Chicago team up to finish the job, inevitably encountering crosses and double crosses as they seek to steal $5 million from the lead politician to pay off the ruthless crime boss. Marital infidelity is also a key driver of the story, the women ultimately proving victorious even if only in their combined resolve. The film's noteworthy ensemble cast is among its highlights, Robert Duvall in his late 80's given the opportunity to unleash some expletives prior to being blown away. Critical response to the film was widely positive, in part because it combined the typical violence of a heist flick with the deeper cultural influences without making any attempt to soften either. Audiences largely agreed, but the film didn't perform particularly well worldwide, perhaps proving McQueen's handling of the topic required too much thought of viewers. While the soundtrack for Widows is often absent or reliant upon songs, the director returned to his 12 Years a Slave collaborator, Hans Zimmer, to provide the minimal original score required for the movie. McQueen definitely subscribes to the "less is more" philosophy when it comes to his film scores, opting to leave the entire first act of Widows without any music at all. With songs occupying several scenes and the end credits, Zimmer was tasked with providing less than half an hour of music for the movie, though when taking into account alternate versions of the same cues, the score really only amounts to about 23 minutes in length. The composer sought to minimize his contribution in guiding the narrative of the movie, opting instead for a largely subdued and rhythmic accompaniment. "The picture itself was the melody, and my job was to do a little bit of orchestration," Zimmer explains. "The moviemaking and the performances are so strong, you don't want to clutter it up uselessly with music." As such, his score achieves only the most basic purpose of filling aural space and underplaying the characters' emotional journey. Not surprisingly, the work has become the target of considerable and humorous scorn from the film music community.

For his carefully distant approach to Widows, Zimmer enlisted the assistance of regular Remote Control ghostwriter Steve Mazzaro to flesh out the rhythmic passages of the work. There are really only two sides to the score: the struggling string ensemble meanderings for the feeling of loss experienced by the lead widow and the rather senseless rhythmic devices applied to the story's later heist preparations and execution. In the category of the former, Zimmer does supply the movie with a single theme, its main four note phrase consisting of two rising and two falling notes before depressing, four-note secondary phrases elongate the identity without resolution. The idea is presented fully on solemn, brooding strings in "Marcus" and "My Son," its secondary phrasing receiving its own meager development at 1:26 into "Money" on strings. The two-note phrases are deconstructed on keyboards in "The Calm Before the Storm." There is no evolution to this theme, its purpose largely devoid of the warmth and complication shown in the leads on screen. While any thematic constructs are welcome, Zimmer, who is alone credited for this theme, does nothing meaningful with it. By erroneously assuming the actresses' performances can carry the emotional weight of the story alone, he reduces the impact of their perseverance by failing to provide them any reinforcing arc in the music. The other half of the score consists of largely acoustic rhythms from stringed instruments hit or plucked in unconventional ways. There's a simple minor-third bass string motif that recurs in "We Have a Job to Do" and "Perimeter Check," but these rhythms are otherwise lifeless mechanical sound effects. To Zimmer and Mazzaro's credit, most of this material is acoustic even if there is a synthetic edge to some of the cues. The tempo of these rhythms does not build tension or accelerate until the awful "Race Against Time" slaps you across the face with obnoxious dissonance. In general, Zimmer enthusiasts enamored with scores like Inferno might find some inspiration in this music, but with so little running time and emotional depth to its conveyance, it's hard to achieve any mood out of it. On album, the tracks are edited haphazardly and thus not in film order at all, the score's thematic passages from the middle of the narrative moved to the start and end of the listening experience. Three of the film's songs made the album, including the original "The Big Unknown" performed by Sade for the end credits. None of these are related in genre to each other, and none is tied to the score. The album is thus a total dud of an experience, Zimmer's choice to withhold any meaningful emotional depth yielding a useless and brief distraction.  *

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 36:45

• 1. Marcus (3:24) • 2. We Have a Job to Do (2:33) • 3. Money (2:34) • 4. Perimeter Check (3:09) • 5. The Calm Before the Storm (1:39) • 6. The Job (4:58) • 7. Race Against Time (1:23) • 8. My Son (2:33) • 9. Wild is the Wind - performed by Nina Simone (7:00) • 10. Dice Game - performed by The Cool Kids (3:11) • 11. The Big Unknown - performed by Sade (4:21)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes a note from the director about the songs and score.

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