Filmtracks: My Sister's Keeper (Aaron Zigman)


Zigman

My Sister's Keeper: (Aaron Zigman) Clashing medical ethics and familial relations are the thorny topic of the best-selling novel by Jodi Picoult that has been translated into the 2009 motion picture My Sister's Keeper. When a contemporary couple has a child with perpetual medical needs, they conceive another to serve as a constant donor, an insurance policy in the form of bone marrow, blood, and organs. While this premise may suggest either a hint of cruelty or even science fiction, the story of this otherwise normal family is complicated when the young donor decides to exercise free will in refusing a necessary kidney transplant for her older sister. The 11-year-old hires an attorney for medical emancipation, giving her the chance to ensure some stability in her own life while living with the parents and siblings she still loves and relies upon. The handling of the series of flashbacks by Nick Cassavetes is divisive, either repulsing audiences or sending them to their tissue boxes depending on how well each viewer can forgive the film's major holes in logic. Strong performances all around are its greatest strength, highlighted by a small but widely admired role for Joan Cusack. The purpose of the music in My Sister's Keeper is one that is completely predictable, playing to a sound of introspective drama perfect for Rachel Portman, Gabriel Yared, or another master of sappy tones of minimal volume. Ironically, the music in the film was mentioned in critical reviews as awkwardly distracting in parts, which is perhaps a cardinal sin in this kind of picture. Still, the approach taken by composer Aaron Zigman is one that will not surprise anyone, and it serves its purpose for most of its length despite lacking much sense of creativity or genuine engagement. Since catching mainstream attention with his music for The Notebook in 2004, Zigman's career has focused primarily on the lighter side of the industry, a busy series of relatively easy dramas and contemporary comedies that don't demand much extended thought. In fact, the combination of his music for My Sister's Keeper and audience favorite The Proposal in the summer of 2009 sums up his production of the era well. Fortunately, My Sister's Keeper allows Zigman to further explore a more serious side of his capabilities that appeals to film score collectors and has landed him a relatively rare commercial album release of his endeavors.


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To say that Zigman simply collected a paycheck without doing much to achieve a unique style of tackling My Sister's Keeper would be a disservice to his efforts, though some listeners may hear it as such. His ensemble consists of a partial orchestra (full strings, minimal woodwinds, and piano) and plucked elements (harp and guitar) that carry the music's only really distinctive personality. The score is technically anchored by the piano, which is a bit disappointing given the instrument's over-application to dramatic films involving suburban family lifestyles. His primary theme is elegantly conveyed by this instrument several times, though the melody bleeds into surrounding ambience for much of the score's middle portions. The full weight of the large string section is never realized in the work, leaving the soundscape surprisingly sparse. A slightly post-modern touch is applied to the equation through the distant mixing of acoustic (and seemingly electric) guitars, filling the atmosphere of the score's contemplative cues with a slightly dissonant and eerie feeling of discomfort. The mass of the work is rooted in the harmonic progressions of the major key, however. Despite this fact, the score's overall personality is one that is overwhelmingly depressing. Unlike an equivalent Portman score, My Sister's Keeper has no warmth; it's an alienating listening experience that reminds far more of Gabriel Yared's tone for solemn dramas. Rather than using performance depth to appeal as something like Autumn in New York would, though, My Sister's Keeper keeps a cool distance. The light guitar and piano performances attempt to counter this wishy-washy, slowly paced difficulty, but the score's half hour on album is ultimately devoid of much redemptive spirit. The one really unique cue, "Visiting Relatives," with accelerated rhythms and misplaced wordless vocals of a style from an era past, is what was referred to as out of place by critics, and on album it is equally disparate in style from the remainder of the material. In the end, My Sister's Keeper is both pretty and sufficient in its thoughtful representation of quiet, contemplative toil. But it remains so firmly rooted in an environment of despair that the few hints of positive energy that occasionally begin to stir from its ranks are swallowed by the extremely melancholy whole. No true sense of musical development from start to end, with no aural journey to be heard, is evidenced by the non-chronological cue order on album. That product is an equally sparse and depressing experience. **