| CLOSE WINDOW |
|
FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of White Oleander (Thomas Newman)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you regularly use nature sound effect CDs to help induce sleep and
want a dreamy, aimless Thomas Newman score to serve the same purpose.
Avoid it... if, as with Newman's In the Bedroom, you tend to avoid lifeless orchestral film scores that blur the lines between music and ambient sound design.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
White Oleander: (Thomas Newman) When Janet Fitch's best-selling
novel became one of Oprah's Book Club selections, you had the feeling that the sharp,
introspective drama would eventually make its way onto the big screen. The tale of a
troubled teen whose single mother is jailed, White Oleander depicts a foster
child's nightmare, being passed between hideous potential mothers before finally
finding a comfortable place, ironically, with a foster father. The film is an exhibit
of female behavior at its strongest and weakest, best and worst, and it was salvaged
from the enormous pile of average, tear-jerking arthouse dramas by the strength of
its own A-list cast. It was also the directorial debut for British stage and
television director Peter Kosminsky, who decided to immediately jump on the popular
arthouse scoring bandwagon by pursuing composer Thomas Newman for a role in the
production. As a project requiring a modern, personal touch, White Oleander
was a perfect match for Newman, who was known for scoring heavy, female-driven dramas
in a dynamic range from Little Women to Erin Brockovich. Fans of the
orchestral half of Newman's career had seen the composer switch from his mid-1990's
sensibilities back to the more experimental, synthesized sounds of his roots. It was
American Beauty and all of that film's success that brought Newman's often
wacky choice of instrumentation into this in-demand style for low budget productions.
From television commercials to temp track rip-offs, Newman managed to start a
three-year trend with this style of worldly minimalism, and it was exactly that kind
of sound that Kosminsky seemed to demand for White Oleander. Newman was happy
to oblige, though the score represented a further shift toward ambient sound design
that had dominated the insufferably sparse In the Bedroom just prior. Instead
of returning to the route of the more extroverted, rhythmic styles of American
Beauty or Erin Brockovich for contemporary lifestyles, Newman stays closer
to the more subtle, atmospheric scores for Pay It Forward and In the
Bedroom. The result is predictably underwhelming, despite whatever basic
functionality Newman does achieve with his restrained soundscape.
To accompany a few dozen string members of an orchestra, Newman employs a piano, electric guitar, repeater, glass guitar, pick jam, copper box, pedal steel guitar, granulated cello, stick fiddle, cavaquinho, saz, high metal, shiver tables, struck bowls, pang glocken, ewi, clarinet, and double bass for White Oleander's score... not at all unusual for the composer during this period. The result of their performances is surprisingly dull, producing an ambience that very well could have sufficed had it utilized synthetic, sampled versions of the same collection of instruments. Despite all of Newman's attempts to shape these items into a distinctly new sound, he has created a score for White Oleander that is even more minimalistic than anything he had yet produced, reducing his music even further from the realm of normal musical structures. Instead, listeners hear an artistic form of sound design, music that functions as one massive sound effect and containing no coherent theme, no memorable style, no small motif, and no defining factor that elevates this score to any level of musical comprehension. From listening to this music, you would get the impression that every character is contemplating suicide on the screen at every moment, with a drab, dramatic cloud of dreamy atmosphere floating aimlessly from start to end. The word "dreamy" is key here, because with this score Newman had finally hit a point in his career where his music could be sold as a sleep-inducing sound effect tool, much like the kinds of albums with recordings of ocean waves and seagulls that repeat all night long and help you drift off to sleep quickly and quietly. Put White Oleander right on the shelves next to such nature products. It isn't offensive in any way; in fact, Newman's own piano solos have a very soothing quality to their slow progressions. Unlike In the Bedroom, it has no aggravating cues. And if you require an album to replace your stolen bottle of sleeping pills, then this short score (on repeat) will serve the same purpose. But as a film score, White Oleander offers nothing to the field of existing material by Newman or anyone else. Without any semblance of an individual personality, the level of interest that this music maintains is absolutely zero. Its album presentation offers you 30+ minutes of nothingness, and mainstream viewers of the movie should be aware that Sheryl Crow's song "Safe and Sound" (heard over the end credits) is not on this product. You might wish that it were, if only to wake you from your slumber. **
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 34:38
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes a list of performers, but no extra information about the
score or film.
Copyright ©
2003-2024, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from White Oleander are Copyright © 2002, Varèse Sarabande and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 9/25/03 and last updated 2/23/09. |
