Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,369
Written 9/6/99, Revised 8/27/07
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Buy it... if you seek an introspective, country-flavored
interpolation of Thomas Newman's instrumentation and rhythms by Marco
Beltrami.
Avoid it... if you seek a score longer than twenty minutes that
will leave any lasting impression on you whatsoever.
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| Beltrami |
The Minus Man: (Marco Beltrami) The directorial
debut of Bladerunner writer Hampton Fancher, The Minus Man
was a psychological character study that was actually received quite
well by critics despite a total collapse at the box office. It follows
the aimless world of Owen Wilson's serial killer, a seemingly nice and
innocent guy wandering the Pacific Northwest and taking odd jobs. But he
kills upon impulse, and the film uses two imaginary police detectives to
act as the character's own devils on the shoulder as both he (and the
audience) seek to explain his actions. It's a disturbing film with
little to like, but it's easy to see how The Minus Man captivated
critics in search of films with superior character analysis (on a wide
variety of characters, not just Wilson's). Outside of its own
self-analysis, The Minus Man seems to have no broader purpose,
and the same could be said of Marco Beltrami's score. Beltrami's career
had been firmly rooted in slasher/horror films in the mid-to-late
1990's, and The Minus Man came among a series of unassuming and
underwhelming efforts that really failed to help his career progress.
The film did, however, give the young composer the opportunity to write
a score that didn't fit the persona of his previous efforts. As a
minimalistic effort with a country twist, The Minus Man would
offer some moments of sparse Americana spirit of the most rural kind,
and Beltrami's score is basically sufficient. It is, in spirit, a score
that seeks to create an atmosphere rather than entertain by its own
power, defying description in its own odd personality. Barely audible
and with unintrusive pacing, Beltrami's The Minus Man creeps
along in a wishy-washy environment of dissolution, stopping only in two
cues to provide the dissonance necessary for the film's openly darker
moments.
The ensemble consists of synthetics and a number of
solo artists, most of which performing in the alluring "Main Title." A
piano, faint solo female voice, dobro, acoustic guitar, cello, and a
number of glassy electronic effects create a hypnotizing rhythm under a
surprisingly attractive, yearning theme that barely receives air time
later in the score. Several "personality quirk" cues later consist of
rural Western elements in unconventional rhythms, making
The Minus
Man into Beltrami's best imitation of Thomas Newman music. The
uncanny resemblance to Newman's instrumentation for such cues will
provide some curious moments for veteran film score collectors. The two
dissonant cues, "Scatback's Daydream" and "Hampton's Devil," break the
monotony of the score with their nightmarish, low piano and percussion
thuds over wavering synthetic voices. The only thematic highlight of the
score outside of the opening titles is "Hunt for Gene," a cue that uses
a delicate piano rhythm much like Mychael Danna did in
Exotica,
but under solemn string performances here. The only truly inspiring
moments on the album, interestingly, are the songs, which are performed
by two women who, like the score, have a very post-modern parochial
sound to their quite poor, free-floating performances; the first two of
the three songs are an enjoyable break from the otherwise monotonous
score. Beltrami's contribution to
The Minus Man is not of great
length on the album, with only twenty minutes existing outside of the
songs. While most film score critics wrote this entry off as merely a
curiosity, some fans find it to be a relaxing and rewarding listening
experience. Still, a score that fails to leave any lasting impression
after its conclusion serves a questionable purpose on album.
Interestingly, with the film being singer/performer Sheryl Crow's acting
debut, it is somewhat unusual for her not to write or perform in any one
of the songs. Perhaps her character's untimely death had something to
with it...
** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For Marco Beltrami reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.75
(in 28 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.8
(in 19,012 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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