: (Alan Silvestri) Director Robert
Zemeckis has pursued some imaginatively screwy ideas in his career, but
his adaptation of the 2010 documentary
is among his
strangest. The real-life story of victim Mark Hogancamp is the focus,
his PTSD after a bar attack leading him to cope with his significant
physical and mental trauma through small-scale recreations of a
fictional World War II village in Europe and inserting himself and
others he knows in real life as characters in that scene. The film
shifts between the live-action version of the man played by Steve Carell
and the dolls that represent his coping mechanisms, his realities
hopelessly intertwined and confused between the two. He eventually earns
notoriety for this technique, his models and dolls displayed in an art
museum and the real man escaping from his past to form lasting
relationships and become a photographer. Zemeckis' vision for
was meant to highlight the Universal and Dreamworks lineup
in late 2018, but disastrous test screenings revealed the movie's
destiny. It ultimately lost massive sums of money and sent the
director's subsequent projects to primarily small screens. One crew
member remaining ever loyal to Zemeckis is his good friend, Alan
Silvestri, who composed the director's projects over five decades.
There's definite comfort in the resulting soundtrack for
, the work totally saturated with the composer's notable
mannerisms. The complication with this score, however, is the wildly
shifting attitude of the film as the real and imaginary worlds collide.
Silvestri answers by treating the real one with his usual, lovely,
dramatic tendencies but shifts to ridiculous parody silliness for the
realm of the dolls when there's any amount of action involved in the
that part of the narrative. The romance does extend to the dolls, as
does the composer's techniques at using keyboards, harp, and chimes to
infuse a sense of magic into his tone, but he saves the best moments for
live-action connections.
The music for
Welcome to Marwen thus shifts
haphazardly within the same cue at times and begs for suite arrangements
of its like modes, likely requiring the military-oriented material to be
stripped away because it conflicts badly with the sound of everything
else. Still, the score is very typical to Silvestri and has much to
offer even though the composer does not necessarily execute any of his
styles to his best in this context. The highlights of the score will
please any Silvestri collector, its tender character themes a preview of
Here, its mystery a foreshadowing of
The Witches, and a
few late action cues, "Hogie vs Meyer Part 1" and "Hogie vs Meyer Part
2," powerhouses that return to his 1990's form. There is some dissonant
suspense along that journey, including the second half of "Magic," "One
Big Understanding," and "Crippled by Fear," and moderated versions of
this side persist in "Never Love the Way I Do" and "Hate Crime." But the
score is otherwise defined by its fluff. The composer gets lost in the
bevy of themes he wrote for the story, too many character and romance
identities explored to really allow them to all thrive. The main theme
is conjoined with a secondary theme of innocence that both represent the
primary character, and splitting the two themes, perhaps for the real
and imaginary personas, wasn't really necessary. The main one is a
pretty character identity highlighted by rising trios of notes,
reminiscent of James Horner and utilizing slight waltz movements. It's
from the performances of this idea that some of the sensitivity would
eventually overflow in
Here. This theme continues at 0:26 into
"Welcome to Marwen" on strings and 0:57 into "Finally Got It Right" on
strings and harp, shifting to oboe before disappearing for a healthy
chunk of the score. It finally recurs at 2:28 into "Beautiful Moon,"
provides brief respite from the dread in "Crippled by Fear" before
extended drama at the cue's end, and is lightly whimsical on high
strings in "They Can't Hurt Me." Silvestri hands it to solo oboe in the
middle of "Marwencol" before an ensemble,
Here-like performance
at 3:00 and conveys it at 0:41 into "Welcome to Marwen End Credits" with
quiet beauty prior to another fuller rendition at 1:50.
The arguably unnecessary secondary theme of innocence
for
Welcome to Marwen is a separate lullaby with the most tender
impact on the score, functioning like a supplemental or evolutionary
sequence from the main theme and sharing its same demeanor. This idea
occupies first minute of "Finally Got It Right" on woodwinds and returns
after the main theme. It defines "You Got This" on clarinet, piano, and
solo cello, returns in similar form in the middle of "Saved," offers
more of a dramatic moment of defiance in "Hate Crime," and turns heroic
for a passage late in "Hogie vs Meyer Part 2." This innocence theme
revisits its original form on flute at 0:40 into "Wake Up Sweetheart,"
meanders early in "Marwencol" before closing the cue with more
imaginative clout, and opens "Welcome to Marwen End Credits" on piano.
The bouncy military theme in
Welcome to Marwen is its obvious
sore spot, guided by a touch of Jerry Goldsmith's silly heroism from
Small Soldiers that is dominated by brass and percussion. Had the
composer taken this material towards his genuinely exciting
Judge
Dredd level of intensity, then it could have been convincing. (He
ironically did exactly that for the prehistoric flashback sequences in
Here.) But instead he offers a trite atmosphere of nearly comedic
parody, a truly child-like escape that defies the importance of the
imaginative world for its creator. The lengthy snare sequences involved
are somewhat irritating in their simplicity and don't reach
Predator or
Back to the Future depth at any time. This
theme blows up at 0:48 into "Welcome to Marwen" on sudden, enthusiastic
brass and snare force of bright enthusiasm, exploring secondary phrasing
extensively throughout the cue. It influences the first half of "You are
Saved" in softer shades, lets rip again with full glory in "New Girl in
Town," and continues without much variation in "Rise and Shine," the
snare rhythms more prominent on their own. The military theme interjects
at 0:31 into "Hogie vs Meyer Part 1" and repeats that stance a few times
later and throughout "Hogie vs Meyer Part 2." Like the opening cue, this
theme bursts in at 2:13 into "Welcome to Marwen End Credits" and
concludes that suite as well.
Far more palatable is the composer's love theme for
Welcome to Marwen, a blend of Danny Elfman's melodic grace from
Edward Scissorhands and the intimate romance and sadness of
Horner's
Casper. Previewed obtusely in the middle of "You are
Saved," this theme is fully introduced with swirling rhythmic
accompaniment at the start of "Saved," restating itself at 1:39. It
twinkles with familiar charm from piano and woodwinds in "Goodnight
Girls," exploring its own secondary phrasing for the rest of the cue,
and that new phrasing helps introduce the distinct melodic focus in
"Beautiful Moon," where it is big at the end of the cue. That fresh
variant of the theme takes center stage in "Wake Up Sweetheart,"
delicately charms with its original form in the first half of
"Marwencol," and is reprised softly at 5:12 into "Welcome to Marwen End
Credits." Also attractive is Silvestri's mystery theme that doubles for
danger and the villains. A swirling preview of the wondrous mischief
from
The Witches, this theme is slight on flute and then strings
at 0:44 into "You Are Saved" but achieves top Silvestri fantasy form
with chimes at 0:31 into "Deja Spills Some Milk." It continues its
development with more subtle intrigue in the first half of "Magic,"
becomes tortured in a crescendo early in "One Big Misunderstanding," and
mingles about a minute into "Hogie vs Meyer Part 1" and punctuates short
moments later in that cue. The idea nicely opens "Hogie vs Meyer Part 2"
in driving action mode for brass and roaring rhythm and continues to
alternate with the military theme throughout the cue, slowly extending
out the military material at 4:11 into "Welcome to Marwen End Credits"
as well. Finally, there's something of a fanciful motif that opens the
score in "Welcome to Marwen" and takes the place of the military
material in "Welcome to Marwen End Credits," but its purpose is unknown.
All of these themes may service the haphazard narrative well on screen,
but it makes for a highly disjointed 57-minute album experience. That
product from Intrada Records does not contain the humorous
Back to
the Future theme reference for the time machine scene near the
climax of the story. Listeners will be tempted to edit out the military
theme and dissonant suspense that occupies about a third of the work,
because the rest is moderately compelling even if it is somewhat
anonymous in Silvestri's career.
@Amazon.com: CD or
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- Music as Written for the Film: ****
- Music as Heard on Album: ***
- Overall: ***
| Bias Check: |
For Alan Silvestri reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.47
(in 43 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.33
(in 40,196 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
