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| Shire |
Zodiac: (David Shire) It was inevitable that a film
devoted to the discouraging search for clues about San Francisco's
Zodiac killer of the late 1960's and early 1970's would be equally
frustrating, but that did not stop director David Fincher from torturing
audiences with a story as unresolved as its real life inspiration.
Despite a string of murders and the tormenting of the San Francisco
press and police with a series of cryptic letters, the identity of the
Zodiac killer has never been discovered. The only suspect, and a central
figure in Fincher's
Zodiac, died in the early 1990's and DNA
testing in 2002 eventually exonerated him anyway. Tremendous care was
taken by the director, screenwriter James Vanderbilt, and producer Brad
Fischer to expand upon the accounts of the investigation published by
cartoonist Robert Graysmith. As the lead character in
Zodiac,
Graysmith was long obsessed with his own search for clues about the
killer, eventually supported by reporters and, indirectly, by the police
as he continued his investigation for decades. Everything in
Zodiac was extremely painstakingly undertaken, the locale using
special effects to complete the San Francisco of the era and the facts
of the case very carefully assembled and presented so that the film
would not convict any one person. As the studios had feared, however,
Fincher's finished product ran too long to sustain audience interest,
and between that length, the lack of a resolution, and very few action
sequences,
Zodiac was a financial failure. It did, however,
receive very respectful and/or positive reviews, however, as did David
Shire's score for the film. The story of Shire's involvement in
Zodiac is itself a lengthy topic, but one satisfying for film
score collectors who fondly recall the composer's strong contributions
to the genre in the 1970's. Fincher originally gained studio approval to
utilize no original score material at all for the project, instead
assembling source pieces ranging from vintage rock songs to the quiet
loneliness of Shire's piano theme from the classic 1974 espionage film
The Conversation. As production progressed, however, Fincher and
his sound designer agreed that
Zodiac would require 15 to 20
minutes of music, and eventually they came to hire Shire himself to
write what essentially amounts to an adaptation of his own works and
other modern American sources.
The 1980's were the last time that Shire was active
composing for films, and the assignment forced him to adapt into a new
age of film scoring procedures that he ultimately praised, mainly in the
technical arena. His contribution to
Zodiac amounted to almost
forty minutes of music by the end, though with roughly 34 minutes of
that material utilized in the 157-minute picture. With two hours of the
film left silent or with source usage, Shire's music is little more than
pinpointed ambience, a technique that those familiar with the director's
films will recognize. Fincher is no fan of melodic film music in the
context of his works, and Shire originally wrote more lyrical material
for
Zodiac that was rejected by the director, who in turn
dictated very clearly the instrumentation and sounds he desired. A small
assembly of string players was joined by solo trumpet, horn, piano, and
electric guitars for the occasion, though the horn and guitars only make
cameo appearances. Shire's score is arguably just as intelligent as the
other aspects of the film, tastefully adapting the temp track pieces
while also manipulating twelve tones in the structures of the score to
represent the twelve signs of the Zodiac. While you do hear influences
from Shire's music for
The Conversation and
All the
President's Men (and mainly the former) in
Zodiac, the more
notable inspiration comes from textures in Charles Ives' 1906 piece,
"The Unanswered Question." Not surprisingly, the strings that comprise
the "question" portion of that work are adapted while the woodwind
answers are dropped, and when combining this decision with the atonal
challenges in Shire's more original contributions, the score is
unquestionably a depressing experience. As the composer says, it's an
embodiment of "irresolution," with none of its harmonies developing in a
way as to achieve tonal peace. The perpetually unsettling experience
alternates between three primary identities while occasionally breaking
off in an interesting deviation. The first "theme" (though it's a
stretch to call it such) belongs to the killer, and his difficult,
atonal string layers can be heard in "Aftermaths" (on album essentially
an artificial merging of the three post-murder sequences) and "Law &
Disorder," and with the actual action scenes left without any score,
this material is meant to accentuate the sinking feeling of unresolved
deaths and the potential for more indiscriminate attacks.
The solo piano portions in
Zodiac that pull from
The Conversation are dedicated to Graysmith's persistent
investigation, and while he receives a distinct theme from Shire, don't
expect the melody to be any more inviting than the others in the score.
This idea is heard at the forefront in three of the album's tracks, and
the noir element inherent in their desolate performances carries over to
the final theme in
Zodiac, the one that accompanies the solaces
of lead police inspector David Toschi. For this character, Shire goes
the outright noir direction of the solo trumpet, meandering aimlessly in
an equally unresolved theme of sparse despair. Given that the
character's personal life was doomed in part because of this case, Shire
treats him to little respect with this identity. Sprinkled throughout
the score, the Toschi theme is a faint cry from the far more elegant and
cohesive, tonal identity that he original wrote for the character (and
graciously included on the album, along with a spotting session
recording not to be missed). All of these three themes share a
disillusioned vision of reality, and the score relies upon its few
moments of unique instrumental character or greater depth of keep the
listener involved. Foremost in this regard are the electric guitars
exploring the detective's theme in "Trailer Park" and uniquely intense
plucked strings alongside Bernard Herrmann suspense in "Graysmith
Obsessed." Dark strokes from the same players at the end of "Closer &
Closer" and the addition of a French horn to the Zodiac theme during the
suspenseful, eerie interaction in "Confrontation" are also highlights.
To say that there is any singular "highlight" in the music for
Zodiac, however, is very deceptive, because the entirety of the
score is meant to make you fill ill at ease. Shire's task was well
accomplished despite the clear adaptation approach, but because we're
talking about Fincher here, don't expect any single redemptive moment in
this music. It's a significant challenge to enjoy this score outside of
a collector's ability to appreciate it. On the latter front, it's very
easy to admire the filmmakers' choice to involve Shire and the
composer's ability to still provide a very effective contribution in
while facing challenging circumstances. Shire's voice is one long
missed, and
Zodiac is an outstanding technical reminder of his
skills (and therefore a favorite among some film music critics because
of this point alone). But whereas Marvin Hamlisch's return to plunder
his previous glory in
The Informant! a few years later yielded a
highly enjoyable listening experience, Shire's music for
Zodiac
is damn near intolerable out of context. Like the setting, the gloom of
the fog is never far.
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- Music as Written for the Film: ****
- Music as Heard on Album: **
- Overall: ***
The insert includes a list of performers and a long note from
the composer about his approach to the score.
