is a grim, realistic
portrayal of an inglorious end to a vivacious spirit caused by the
Alzheimer disease. Based on her husband's book about her life,
documents the relationship between he and writer and
philosopher Iris Murdoch, switching between the settings of the 1950's
and 1990's to show not only the maturation of the bond between them
through the years, but also a switching of roles of dominance as Murdoch
is reduced to the mentality of a young child by the end of her life. The
film netted three Academy Award nominations in the major acting
categories for Judi Dench and Kate Winslet (who both portray Murdoch)
and Jim Broadbent, whose career reached its pinnacle in 2001 with this
production and
. The shifting between the past and
present settings of the dramatic story perpetuated a style of English
dramatism and folk music that gave composer James Horner an opportunity
to write a score in a field that had been dominated by the likes of
Richard Robbins and Patrick Doyle. After stirring his fans and
detractors into a frenzy with the size and energy of
earlier
in 2001, James Horner finished his year's activities with one of the
most reflective and underwhelming scores of the time. Small character
dramas that rely heavily on superior acting and writing were not a
completely foreign environment for Horner. One of his most acclaimed
underscores of the 1990's was written for the tiny budget film
a short time later. Both of those scores offered
Horner's collectors a glimpse of what he could write when not trying to
impress his audience with an overwhelming dose of orchestral weight.
Some maintain strongly that such scores continue to show little
ingenuity on the part of Horner, and while
The descriptor of "unoriginal" applies, too, to
Iris, a score with all the functionality and ingredients of a
dramatic winner, but always one step away from achieving the kind of
heart that made
The Spitfire Grill so genuinely alluring. The
score for
Iris exceeds the other two in its consistency of
harmony and major key optimism. Its simplicity is superbly represented
by the unassuming performances of the solo violin. Joshua Bell was the
most recent in a growing string of notable soloists to grace Horner's
recording stages, and while his contribution to
Iris won't cause
an explosion of interest, it softly and delicately achieves its goal.
The sense of wrestling of the inner soul is captured well in the score,
not to any excess or even great toil, but the atmosphere of a personal
journey is conveyed with adequate emotion and subdued volume. Soothing
in parts and unremarkable in others, the score offers little excitement
to break the contemplative ponderings of its title character and her
husband. The title theme is so seamlessly integrated into the musical
narrative that it won't really jump out at you until late in "Part 5,"
when a full statement of the idea with the power of the string-heavy
orchestra in unison enunciates it clearly. The opening cue on the album
is the formal treatment of this theme, featuring Bell's most prominently
placed recordings over some of the score's fullest and most satisfying
accompaniment. No dramatic evolution of
Iris's theme will ever
burst through in the film, and aside from a quick splash of diversity,
mood, and instrumentation in "Part 6," there is remarkably nothing to
hinder Bell's violin and the single woodwind or piano that performs the
soft duet that weaves throughout the work. The brass section is often
muted, unless a French horn is meandering along the usual, lengthy
Horner-specific path of descending measures of music. The relatively
short album (by Horner standards) will fly past in a heartbeat, leaving
the listener pleasantly satisfied, but without inspiration or even,
perhaps, much interest in many repeat listens.
The irony involving the sound of
Iris is that it
mirrors much of the score in Horner's career that was widely hailed as
being his most original. The knowledgeable Horner collector will hear a
considerable portion of
The Spitfire Grill in
Iris, though
without any of the spunk or guitar flair that defined
The Spitfire
Grill as a truly unique effort. Instead, the forest-like atmosphere
in the reflective moments of the former score are faintly repeated in
Iris, and the violin solos by Bell in 2001 are only different
from those heard in
The Spitfire Grill because of his more famous
name. The meandering horn solos are a guaranteed ticket to Horner's
memory lane. The sometimes dull nature of the music, in its seemingly
endless pursuit of floating atmosphere instead of the focus of
character, will easily lose the interest of many listeners, and
especially those who didn't like the earlier, similar Horner dramas in
the first place. One notable aspect of
Iris is that, on a few
occasions, it acknowledges the English folk music that eventually
prevails in the context of the film. Horner almost allows the
performances to pick up a slight rhythm that would lend itself well to
that genre in a few places. The traditional folk tune "A Lark in the
Clear Air," performed decently by actress Kate Winslet, is integrated
throughout the final orchestral cue on the album, "Part 8." For a score
that is so heavy on the side of dramatic contemplation,
Iris is
only somewhat effective at building a personality, and it is that lack
of aspiration or distinctive rhythm or instrumentation (even with the
violin) that causes it to stand as a solid, though unrewarding listening
experience. An extremely intimate sound quality, accentuated by the
singular and constant whole notes strung along by the cellos and basses,
contribute further to the score's lack of depth. Despite the strong
pairing of Bell and Horner,
Iris is only average, an enjoyable
background listen for a time or two, but with a strangely unremarkable
personality. It's very clear why the Academy voted to nominate Horner's
A Beautiful Mind in 2001 over this well-placed competitor; the
difference in memorability is extreme.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.15
(in 108 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.23
(in 203,515 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
