Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #794
Written 3/20/97, Revised 9/29/11
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Buy it... if you like filling the void of a silent room with
consistent, subtle, synthetically atmospheric scores from the mystery
section of the 1990's Media Ventures sound libraries.
Avoid it... if you are expecting the majority of the score to be
the work of Hans Zimmer and have any remote semblance of the melodic,
propulsive style that defined his most popular scores of the era.
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Gregson-
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Smilla's Sense of Snow: (Harry
Gregson-Williams/Hans Zimmer) Based on the thrilling novel by Peter
Hoeg, Smilla's Sense of Snow features a half-Inuit scientist
played by Julia Ormand who is compelled to investigate the mysterious
death of a neighbor boy. Naturally, the growing complexity of the
circumstances of the boy's death begin to grow to full-blown conspiracy
levels and the wintry adventure takes viewers on a tour of Denmark and
its colonies with several top flight actors in tow. The murder mystery
has a span of science that extends 140 years and, in the age of criminal
mischief when concerning potentially scary discoveries, ends up dancing
on the edge of fantasy and science fiction by its conclusion. At its
core, however, Smilla's Sense of Snow is a slowly developing and
soft mystery with occasional, thrilling jolts and an atmosphere of
constantly dreary weather. Directed by Bille August, the film came and
went through the theatres like one of the free-floating snowflakes in
its tale, and even a film score featuring the popular name of Hans
Zimmer flew largely below the radar. The score, interestingly, could be
described with exactly the same words: occasionally thrilling but
constantly dreary. By early 1997, Zimmer, already an Oscar-winner, had
certainly hit his prime, and job offers were rolling in left and right.
The previous year, the composer had satisfied a relationship with a
director by accepting composing duties for The Whole Wide World
but then turning the entirety of the scoring duties over to young
arranger Harry Gregson-Williams, who in reality composed the entire
score for that film despite major credit for Zimmer. The same situation
presented itself in Smilla's Sense of Snow, although in this
case, Zimmer did indeed write a few cues of material and contribute
additional ideas for Gregson-Williams to utilize in his majority of the
work for the project. With the Media Ventures enterprise taking shape at
the time, the age of co-compositional credit and a concentration on the
production of music by Zimmer for films had arrived. While this meant
less original work for die-hard Zimmer fans to enjoy, it also gave
Gregson-Williams opportunities in the same Media Ventures environment to
establish himself and set his career in motion for projects like
Armageddon and Enemy of the State the following
year.
The stylistic similarities between Zimmer and his
apprentices during this period, as well as a common compliment of
electronic equipment, often make it difficult to distinguish between the
multiple artists' music in these combined efforts. The distinctions in
Smilla's Sense of Snow may seem a little more obvious to learned
film score collectors, however, with two or three distinctly Zimmer-like
cues surrounded by ambient underscore that could maybe be passed off as
his music as well. The key word here is ambient, for
Smilla's Sense
of Snow is much like
House of the Spirits but without an
attractive and memorable anthem as the thematic identity. It is a subtle
and restrained score, one that often barely occupies the aural
landscape. Without any dominant instruments in the higher ranges, the
score has the capability of droning, necessitating an increased volume
for listening in order to fully appreciate the nuances and sparse sound
effects that contribute to that environment. The score's sparse primary
theme is broad in scope but severely constrained in performance, never
achieving a fully satisfying variation until the final cue, which serves
as the score's only significantly orchestral piece. A few standout cues
in the latter half of the score (after the story goes oceanside) present
subdued rhythms and background choral mixes that were heard in
The
Fan and
The Rock from the previous year. Even these cues,
highlighted by "Chase at Sea," are heavily weighted by the morbidly
dramatic and ominous mystery of the story, however. There is never an
exhilarating explosion of activity by either the synthetic array or
orchestra, leading to an inevitable debate about the usefulness of
scores like
Smilla's Sense of Snow on album. On one side, you
have the detail oriented, intellectually curious types of listeners who
believe that a score like this should be turned to maximum volume and
appreciated for its subtle intricacies. On the other side, likely a
larger group of Zimmer collectors utilize
Smilla's Sense of Snow
as a purely atmospheric, background listening experience, something
non-distracting and inoffensive to fill the void of a silent room.
Either way, if you're a fan of the composer's synthetically-enhanced
expressions of force, be forewarned that this score, as mostly a
non-descript, atmospheric Gregson-Williams project, has no passages
exhibiting that excitement. It is a simple, predictable, and potentially
boring score, but its droning consistency is its strongest attribute.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For Harry Gregson-Williams reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3
(in 40 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.98
(in 55,240 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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