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| Horner |
Radio: (James Horner) Based on a Sports Illustrated magazine
article written by Gary Smith, the true to life story of
Radio tells the
personal journey of James "Radio" Kennedy, a mentally disabled man of no
distinction (Cuba Gooding), who transforms from the mockery of his small South
Carolina town to become the decades-long high school football team mascot and
cheerleader. Most of the film is concerned with the first coach of the team (Ed
Harris), who pulled 'Radio' from a humiliating situation and worked to fit him into
a constructive role in the team and town. It's a syrupy, feel-good type of film
that you'd frankly expect to see in Hallmark form on a cable television channel
instead of the big screen, but the level of talent in the project separates it from
those murky depths. One such infusion of talent was composer James Horner, whose
output since the autumn of 2002 had been non-existent due to his involvement on
several projects for concurrent release at the end of 2003. Music would play an
important role in
Radio because the title character's nickname is derived
from the fact that he is always listening to a radio. When considering the location
of the Deep South with the 1960's era (and the inherent racial implications of the
story), the choice was made to use a rhythm & blues style of music for much of
Radio. This effective application of style brought the film its heart
through the integration of several 1960's and 1970's R&B tunes into the picture.
The task for Horner would be to extend this style of music into his underscore, and
he chose to do this through the use of yet another featured soloist in his
ensemble. Such techniques were hardly new for the composer, though the genre was.
For
Radio, Horner employed the voice of 'India.Arie' to spice up his
otherwise predictable and mundane orchestral score. In the neo-soul genre of music,
India.Arie had recorded grooving soul music with an acoustic twist since her debut
in 2001. A petite and young black song-writer and performer with dreadlocked hair,
she had been described as a contemporary embodiment of Motown tradition. Outside of
India.Arie's effective accompaniment in the score and title song for
Radio,
however, Horner misses the R&B mark completely, instead opting to provide the film
with an extremely tired sound of light melodrama that he had utilized for countless
previous assignments.
Depending on how strongly you feel that this film is a
racial-healing melodrama by definition, this lack of consistency in the styles of
the songs and score may be disturbing. Instead of making much of an attempt to
incorporate any rhythm or any blues, Horner revisits frighteningly familiar
territory. He scores
Radio with the same attention to Americana as he did
with his early 1990's dramatic efforts, including
Searching for Bobby
Fischer and
The Man Without a Face. It is often a gorgeous pastoral
sound, with lush strings, repetitive thematic development, and easy harmony at
every turn. It smoothly flows with the kind of heartening melodic tone that
attracts so many listeners to Horner's music. But when critics blasted the film for
being too syrupy, then Horner could very well be responsible for that result. He
doesn't borrow from his previous scores in lengthy segments, drawing few direct
comparisons during specific sequences, but the entirety of the structures and
instrumentation goes through familiar motions. The most evident Horner technique at
work in
Radio is the statement of a theme followed by the low rumble of a
bass-region whole note to complete the final chord (often led by a piano) a measure
later. It's Horner's trademark way of emphasizing a synchronization point in the
film, and this method of conveying dramatic weight does get tiresome in its
perpetual application (unless it's whipped into a frenzy, as in
A Perfect
Storm). There is nothing in Horner's easy-going work here to distinguish
Radio from his other, lengthier projects of a similar heart. In the "Night
Game" cue, he does let rip with several blasts of electric guitar and snare drum,
taking inspiration from high school marching band enthusiasm, but the majority of
the underscore is held in place by pleasant strings and the omnipresent piano. If
you're searching for truly inspiring music (especially in the sports arena), then
Radio is the wrong place to look, because this score was never meant to
inspire audiences in the same way as Jerry Goldsmith's landmark sports score for
Rudy. The soul vocals by India.Arie are enjoyable, although their simplicity
is compounded by the mundane end credits song (an adaptation of Horner's theme)
that is labeled as the primary attraction of the soundtrack. On album, the brief 26
minutes of Horner material is probably not worth the investment when considering
the general lack of originality offered in his undemanding, but bland presentation.
In the list of the composer's works of the 2000's,
Radio remains among those
that generate the least amount of interest.
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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.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
