For one of the most surreal and original movies in the history of cinema,
its musical accompaniment had to go one of two ways. Either equally abstract,
or work to keep the audience in check with an emotional familiarity. Burwell
has performed both tricks - sometimes simultaneously - in the Coen brother's
movies, but is here to do the latter. His lackadasical melancholy can be
looked at on all manner of levels in terms of painting the inner self of
the characters. The film is all about what's on the inside, so regardless
of the fact the score is hardly a stretch in his compositional skills, it's
fascinating to see him apply his skills in so multi-layered a manner.
None of the characters in the film deserve a shred of sympathy. Each is foolishly
motivated by greed or lust. Granted, the circumstances creating these motivations
are rather unusual. But Burwell avoids depicting anyone by his or her
shortcomings. Instead the cues imply an inevitable tragedy - we don't know
for who or how until the end. Being rather short, many cues are sequenced
to flow right into one another, so there's a nice effect of listening to
an elongated suite. The only error made is inserting Bartok's "Allegro" about
two thirds of the way through. This piece is used for John Cusack's puppet
shows and is the first piece we hear in the film (cleverly framing the story
ahead - a forgotten stage show tradition). A snip of Burwell speaking at
the recording podium ought to have been bumped to the end of the disc too,
as should the 2 pieces that open it. "Amphibian" by Bjork is the closing
titles. A name that sells essentially. Followed by "Malkovich Masterpiece
Remix", it's a beginning that may well have you re-programming order to better
enjoy on subsequent listens.
These inclusions and the packaging all follow the movie's own skewed thinking
outside the Hollywood norm. It's not Burwell's finest hour musically speaking
(although "Monkey Memories" is quite exciting), but to picture it again proves
him to be a subtle manipulator of the audience's reactions.
Reviewer
Paul Tonks
OST
