Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #373
Written 8/24/97, Revised 12/17/06
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Buy it... if you want a touch of sentimentality from Forrest
Gump and a short burst of brilliant Alan Silvestri action in one
early cue.
Avoid it... if you expect a thoughtfully creative score to rival
the intellectual nature of Carl Sagan's ideas.
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| Silvestri |
Contact: (Alan Silvestri) Of all the collaborations
between director Robert Zemeckis and composer Alan Silvestri at the
time, Contact was the most unique. That would change in following
years, of course, but there was a feeling by both score collectors and
mass audiences in 1997 that something intangible about Contact
was off key. The film takes inspiration from Carl Sagan's novel and
outlines one possible, intellectual method of making first contact with
an alien species. Religious conservatives took aim at the film,
naturally, taunted by the tragic deaths caused by a religious fanatic in
the story (as well as the always amusing sign saying "Jesus was an
alien!" that Zemeckis was sure to give some screen time). The film
didn't necessarily appeal to the pure Sagan fans either, with the
adaptation stuck somewhere between the cerebral philosophies of the man
and the action and adventure demanded of the big screen show. Jodie
Foster's portrayal of the primary character is appropriately cold and
distant, and along with the interactions with the alien species at the
end of the picture, an ambivalent sense of dissatisfaction about
Contact remains. The concept of an "awful waste of space,"
nevertheless, is one begging for a stimulating score, and despite
Silvestri's engaging music for previous Zemeckis films, some listeners
hear a disconnect in Contact. There were legitimate concerns
raised about the placement of music in the film, especially in scenes
without a score track that might have used one. Some cues seemed to
offer cliched or nearly inappropriate music. But if you look at the film
from Silvestri's perspective, Contact is the kind of intellectual
action film that defies a clean-cut score, and when you add in the
rather heartless motions of the main character, it's possible that this
score was more daunting that most attempted by Silvestri at the time.
The rampant fervor surrounding Forrest Gump caused fans to hope
for more of the same, and while Silvestri's title theme for
Contact is a variant of that score, its frequency is
sparse.
It is because of the title theme's relatively weak
impact on the score that
Contact becomes a potentially
dissatisfying listening experience. It's a bookend theme, one meant to
represent the dreams of a little girl at the start of the film and then
those dreams realized at the end. Without that good-natured string theme
in the middle portions, however,
Contact relies on the strength
of its individual cues to pull its own weight. In some cases, Silvestri
succeeds, such as "Ellie's Bogey," a frantic, rhythmic piece for strings
that may very well be the highlight of the score. Aided in its latter
half by an electronic bass, this cue is top-notch Silvestri action.
Unfortunately, the only other notable action cue in
Contact is
"Good to Go," a cue with many of the same elements, but slowed to a more
professional pace. When you look back at the film, Silvestri misses an
opportunity to pull at the emotions of the audience by creating a false
positive for the first, bombed attempt to travel through space. Aside
from the faintly patriotic string and brass crescendos in "Media Event"
and "Button Me Up," the remainder of the score is a bland backdrop for
conversational accompaniment. The interaction with the alien species is
served by some truly cerebral meanderings of a slight synthesizer in the
high ranges, and the moments of contemplation by the primary characters
are often underscored by themeless, though harmonious sound. The "End
Credits" are the major exception to all of this, of course. Providing a
taste of
Forrest Gump with its piano performance of the tender
title theme at the outset, the full-ensemble rendition of the themes
throughout the track feature the same pleasant piano rolling that every
upbeat Silvestri score seems to have. It's almost as though Silvestri
throws a bone to the contingent of the audience the needed this swelling
of positive attitude to be satisfied with the score and film; it
certainly wasn't necessary, and the ideas in the film are awe-inspiring
enough to perhaps merit something less innocuous. It defeats the
complexity of Sagan's concepts for some listeners, and that's entirely
understandable. On the whole, though, the score is basically sufficient
and has two or three standout tracks. That lingering feeling of a missed
opportunity still exists, though.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For Alan Silvestri reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.47
(in 43 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.33
(in 40,196 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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