The Holiday

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Once a year, Hans Zimmer goes to romantic dreamland to bring us his non action oriented idea of the season. This year its for Nancy Meyers' The Holiday starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black. Considering I saw all sorts of romantic fare these past few years, I must say that the movie still surprised me because at last there was a development present for about 2 hours so that characters could slowly transform from a dumb bimbo to a sweet loving woman. And of course cool was the fact for once someone was a film composer as character which is I think a first for Hollywood. Anyway, for Hans Zimmer this was his answer to POTC 2 and The Da Vinci Code and of course, more then often he promises more in these waters then a full spectacle of anthems. And once again The Holiday is proof he is so adept and good to score these things. Of course it fulfils the exact same things a As Good as it Gets or Spanglish score does, the only thing is the tone of how he does it. As Good as it Gets was somewhat comedic in its tone, Spanglish dramatic and The Holiday somewhat romantic. And this is a tone I liked easily and immediately, in the movie as on CD. 'Maestro' captures several scores immediately in the first minutes, like As Good as it Gets and A League of their Own, but when the piano and more a bouncy string tune starts to develop the own Holiday sound I truly begin to enjoy it. For Iris (Kate Winslet's character) Zimmer constructed a loving sweet theme, in 'Iris and Jasper' heard by a touching solo cello. And its changed to lightheartedness with vocals in 'Kayak for One' which is really pleasant to follow. The way the Iris theme picks up rhythm and bounciness in 'Dream Kitchen' is great while Amanda's (Cameron Diaz) theme is discovered in 'Separate Vacations', its then also a slightly more loose theme then the more serious dramatic one of Iris.

The problem however with The Holiday is the middle, in the movie the music easily flows through your head pleasantly because the movie starts to develop and interest you more and more. On CD it becomes sadly a little bit forgettable. Its all pleasant and nice but still forgettable, in 'Light my Fire' we still have a spicy guitar performance, in 'Definitely Unexpected' we hear a Regarding Henry tone (with the use of vocals) and 'If I Wanted to Call You' has the Amanda theme on cello and piano. Yet from that part on more loosely based background music is spotted like some lounge piano in 13 or some Spanish based source music in 16 and 17. The change between these cues is 'It's Complicated' which suddenly goes for something heavier in dramatic support, bringing us back to the wonderful tone he used in A League of their Own. In 'The Cowch' the Iris theme returns but its not until the last tracks you suddenly begin to understand the extent of Zimmer's intentions here. With 'Christmas Surprise' you receive the returning vocalization but its so catchy and Zimmer like you wished it was used more often. And with 'Gumption' you basically receive the bounciness of the string theme but then swelling lovely into goodhearted romantic music, to discover finally the theme Miles (Jack Black) wrote for Arthur Abbott, which is the theme it ends the track with. Of course this theme sounds like Hans Zimmer but its cool to get a theme inside a theme score. And 'Cry' is a lot like Gigli the highlight where a theme becomes something more. The string theme suddenly goes to higher ground with an electric guitar and after all this sweet innocent lightness of music you get a more risky but fleshed out tone that simply cries out happy resolved feelings. That I like the personal sound of The Holiday more than say As Good as it Gets is a personal impression because it is this that separates the score from the other dramatic / comedic affairs. All the rest is the same, the feel, the flow, the Zimmer handling of comedy and drama as the orchestral presence of strings, flutes and bass. Now only vocals (by Suzanne Zimmer amongst others) and Zimmer on the piano bring a difference in The Holiday and I must say, Zimmer hasn't lost his touch because its sweet and lovely, more its a perfect Holiday discovery.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Maestro (3.54) Excellent Track

2. Iris And Jasper (3.24)

3. Kayak For One (1.30)

4. Zero (2.44)

5. Dream Kitchen (1.35)

6. Separate Vacations (1.47)

7. Anything Can Happen (0.48)

8. Light My Fire (1.13)

9. Definitely Unexpected (3.35)

10. If I Wanted To Call You (1.50)

11. Roadside Rhapsody (1.39)

12. Busy Guy (1.28)

13. For Nancy (1.27)

14. It's Complicated (1.00)

15. Kiss Goodbye (2.33)

16. Verso E Prosa (1.58)

17. Meu Passado (1.25)

18. The 'Cowch' (2.42)

19. Three Musketeers (2.44)

20. Christmas Surprise (2.32)

21. Gumption (3.45) Excellent Track

22. Cry (2.39) Excellent Track

Total Length: 48.23

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=== Link to Composer Site: Hans Zimmer ===