Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #754
Written 6/16/03, Revised 2/23/09
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Buy it... if you are an avid collector of John Ottman's obscure works and
enjoyed the intimate quirkiness of his rejected score for Cruel Intentions.
Avoid it... if you prefer Ottman's meaty and gothic compositions for larger
orchestral ensembles.
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| Ottman |
Pumpkin: (John Ottman) This little know film of 2002 is a
character-driven drama about the societal and personal problems which arise when a
typical sorority girl in college falls in love with a mentally retarded male student
(and vice versa). The awkward situation in Pumpkin is played out on a campus
stage that is saturated with peer criticism, and the two characters work to resolve
their doubts about whether or not their affection towards one another is culturally
acceptable. The film is light years away from the topic of Cruel Intentions,
but the projects overlapped in their expression of what composer John Ottman calls
"wrong love," for which he was required to score scenes with a romantic, yet a
slightly twisted emotional element. The directors of Pumpkin requested a score
that was "musically off," mostly due to the development of the problematic
relationship, and this request proved to be something of a challenge for Ottman. It
is hard to imagine what the composer's mental state must have been between the summer
of 2001 and early 2002. He was finally in extremely high demand in the industry,
scoring six projects during that span of time, and one of the lesser known of these
assignments was the odd and obscure Pumpkin. Collectors of the composer's
works were noting at the time that his works fit their films like a tight glove,
likely because Ottman made a habit of always paying extra close attention to how the
music could be mixed in the film (given his editing and directing experience). Add to
the equation an extremely limited budget and a delivery of a score for Pumpkin
with about three weeks to spare, and the project became one of midnight oil for
Ottman. Utilizing the best that the constrained budget would allow, Ottman hired
almost two dozen string and woodwind performers, along with a solo voice and pianist.
Luckily, he had also just redesigned his studio to offer a better array of the
synthetic elements that listeners of his works will recognize as a crucial part of
his creative repertoire. The finished product resembles Ottman's rejected music for
Cruel Intentions to an extent, which is to be expected, but without the
blatantly seductive elements.
Despite whatever qualms he may have had about providing music that
didn't immediately seem like an intuitive fit for the story, Ottman did succeed in
producing a score for
Pumpkin that is slightly disturbed in its use of bass
that is not completely in tune with its fleeting thematic meanderings in the treble.
A melancholy accent is provided by a lyrical solo vocal theme that highlights
"Outcasts" and "Carolyn's Poem," which Ottman correctly states to be among the
strongest cues of the score. Also of interest is the more intentionally obnoxious
sorority theme of a neo-classical nature that opens and closes the score, an effort
by Ottman to throw the snobby stereotype of that particular crowd in the listener's
face. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of
Pumpkin is Ottman's continued
ability to produce a full-sounding score, one with both personality and a larger
sense of ambience but without a large group of performers. He may have chosen to
avoid the sound of a traditional underscore in the film, taking into consideration
the existence of the many softer sequences that play without much notice for portions
of
Pumpkin. One such cue is "Friends and Family," curious for its resemblance
of themes from both Danny Elfman's
Batman Returns and
Sleepy Hollow.
Harmonically, the floating, dreamy cues for the Carolyn character, as well as the
sorority theme, offer ten minutes of superb Ottman creativity at work. Other cues are
a tad sharp around the edges (an intended effect) and disturb the listening
experience with the appropriate amount of apprehension necessary for the character
interaction. The use of the piano, solo voice, and synthesized choral sounds (among
other percussive needs provided by the synthetics) are all well integrated; the
rhythm in "Destiny," along with the dynamic string performances, begin to mirror
Cruel Intentions considerably (and with an equally strong result). The album
was another relatively rare offering of Ottman's work by the Citadel label, and it is
generally a satisfying presentation with the exception of some high range distortion
to be heard in the more voluminous "To Class." Overall,
Pumpkin is an
interesting, though not uniquely outstanding work for Ottman, and the audience for
the score will likely be restrained to the collectors of his works.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For John Ottman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.17
(in 35 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.05
(in 21,449 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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