Unstrung Heroes
Compelling and bittersweet drama about a young boy in 1960s New York who goes to live with his two wildly eccentric uncles when a series of family crises at home proves to be overwhelming. In their funny, magical and occasionally normal world, the boy manages to grow up and gain the confidence he needs to help him deal with his family, a distant father and the emotional turbulence of pre-adolescence. Powerful and entertaining film based on the novel by Franz Lidz.
Starring Andie MacDowell, John Turturro, Michael Richards and Maury Chaykin.
Undoubtably one of his best. This is Newman's most succesful attempt at combining his gift for melody, his love for rhythm and his talent for ambient in one score. And what a score! Nominated for both a Grammy and an Academy Award, the music on this CD demonstrates the very essence of the Thomas Newman-experience. The main title (track 9 - A Load of Lidz) is an addictive piece of music for vibraphone (excellent playing by Michael Fisher, by the way) which is really the heart of this score. All other themes and motives seem to be derived from this piece of music. Another theme (for zither, vibraphone and guitar), first introduced in the opening track, is one of the most dynamic pieces of music ever written by Newman. It's brimful of energy and it has a six-note transitional motive that will get stuck in your head for a very long time. This isn't Little Women or The Shawshank Redemption. Every once in a while, it will make you think of Desperately Seeking Susan (the bouncy rhythms), Phenomenon (the beautiful main theme) or Josh and S.A.M. (the energetic mix of electronics and various bizarre instruments), but in the end, Unstrung Heroes is quite a unique piece of work, very different from anything else. No Thomas Newman-collection should be without it.
Street date: September 1995.
A promotional CD with different artwork (no extra music) was released at the time of the movie's release.
This score was nominated for an Academy Award and a Grammy Award.
Click here for the press release-information of this soundtrack.
Music Composed by Thomas Newman.
Vibraphone, jaw harp, vibratone: Michael Fisher.
In an interview earlier this year, Thomas Newman described several of the characters in Diane Keaton's Unstrung Heroes as "whacked out", therefore his music would naturally have to reflect this situation. I guess he wasn't joking! With key instrumental credits including zither, processed hurdy gurdy, psaltery (come again?) and, of course, "door", Newman has delivered perhaps his most experimental film score to date. Literally each track creates its own sound-world so unique, and so alien to the stereotypical preconceptions of what movie music "sounds" like, that the finished score makes 1993's Flesh and Bone now sound like "vintage Williams". That is not to put down John Williams (an entirely different composer) or either of the Newman scores, because this short but substantial work is one of inspiration and near-genius, so that the only faults suffered by the album are a tendency to repeat ideas during its brief running time and a lack of a memorable tune. However, Newman has never let this stand in his way before, and here also these points are easy to get past. And so we arrive Outside 2B, Inside 2B and Nowhere Near 2B, to the CD's opening tracks. These employ various untuned plucked strings and pedal steel over brief rhythmically and thematically minimal motifs, setting the scene for the way in which much of the material is eventually developed. Newman has an uncanny ability to hold your attention either through the use of heart-rending melodies with subtle orchestral palettes, or edgy and propulsive musical fragments - here he does just that with a fascinating score created almost entirely from the latter. In a change of pace, it is later on that Newman takes us to the real heart of the film, as Home Movies, with its relatively simple piano and strings, proves to be a deeply poignant climax to what is, by surprise, quite an urban score. But then, the best thing about Thomas Newman is that you never can know what to expect. (James Torniainen)
Reproduced by permission. Originally published in Film Score Monthly (#62, October 1995).
Paul Place - Gramophone Film Music Good CD Guide (1997 Edition).
Internet Movie Database Entry for Unstrung Heroes
About the movie
Produced by Susan Arnold, Donna Roth and Bill Badalato.
Directed by Diane Keaton.
About the music
The soundtrack
Availability: in print.
Track listing
Total Time: 29:42
Soundtrack notes
Produced by Thomas Newman and Bill Bernstein.
Remixed by Tom Winslow and Thomas Newman (excepting tracks 8, 18, 19).
Orchestrations by Thomas Pasatieri.
Music Editor: Bill Bernstein.
Music Contractor: Leslie Morris.
Music Preparation: Julian Bratolyubov.
Second Engineer: Tom Winslow.
Recorded and Mixed at The Village Recorder.
Mastered by Joe Gastwirt at OceanView Digital Mastering.
Zither, processed hurdy gurdy, bowed bass dulcimer: Rick Cox.
Picnic, piano, psaltery: Thomas Newman.
Guitars, drums: George Doering.
Zither, indian banjo, door: Bill Bernstein.
Flutes, recorder: Steve Kujala.
Pedal steel guitar: Chas Smith.
Sustains: Randy Kerber.
Review
Other reviews
Related links
Film Score Monthly