The Village

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Every film he makes, M. Night Shyamalan proves he is one of the most inventive voices in this industry. And even if The Village turns out to be his least innovating work of all, you can't deny at least the first hour and a half again leaves you nailed to your seat, with exquisite character development, intriguing scenes surrounding those we don't speak of, and in a way perhaps the most plausible ending you could imagine, even though it isn't what we wanted nor thought of. Surrounding the musical cases, Shyamalan always starts from the concept of having no music at all, but piece by piece his stead worthy follower James Newton Howard talks him out of that situation by brining music that belongs in the film, because its so goddamn effective and tantalizing. And with The Village, another case in point has been made how well James Newton Howard understands Shyamalan's vision, because this score proves in musicality what Shyamalan has of functionality. And The Village proves this in a manner I didn't expect from it at all, namely a lot of violin based music. For this picture, another high talented artist is introduced to the realm of film music, but here I find the difference is artist Hilary Hahn is used and heard a whole lot more then for instance Charlotte Church was used only sparingly in A Beautiful Mind. As that was a commercial publicity stunt, here artist Hilary Hahn has so much time to perform her exquisite talent to the listeners, and so Newton Howard wrote music specifically for her alone. She is used during each track on this CD, already from the start in 'Noah Visits', its solo violin and the classical voice is perhaps obvious, so is the whirling main theme that adds a sense of mystery around the town.

This tone repeats itself in 'What are You Asking Me?' which starts with solo piano and violin, moving to the effective love theme followed by the main theme. How effective the main theme sounds in the end, the love theme is simple yet so powerful in its effect, the moment it starts shining in several scenes, it shows again Howard's true knack for writing them. There is however also some mood setting on the album, and while flutes or violin based, 'The Bad Color' and 'Rituals' don't bring much weight to the score. Weight is something 'Those we Don't Speak Of' does bring aplenty, but that track has a different matter. This track starts with powerful percussion, whining brass which effectively presents the creature and a constant powerful tone by the percussion, but its the mesmerizing violin playing which leads to the love theme that is most striking. However, as said the problem is, after the powerful percussion thumps, this beautiful violin based musical number starts so soft in the mixing it hurts the effect of this track, eventually it rises, but this was used so loud and brilliant in one of the movies strongest scenes, and to hear its effect so powerful in cinema, the question for its low mixing is unquestionable, more it is one of this score's faults. Luckily 'The Gravel Road' presents the highlight correctly, with the love theme supported through piano while the whirling main theme dances over it, it is beautiful as it is effective and it dances with the right attitude. 'The Forbidden Line' is again one of its more powerful pieces, which grows to some dissonance and bells presenting the forest, while the flutes play the birds in this case, again its Howard's most effective scoring for the genre.

The 6 minute 'The Vote' brings the wonderful version of the love theme, while later the orchestra grows to give the violin time to perform a beautiful melody. Its one of the tracks which isn't faulted by the eerie tones of the underscore or to bring music that doesn't have effect at all. 'It is Not Real' is the movie's realization and the orchestra crashes bring the score's effect again sky-high, pumping almost horror music on a rhythmic scale to lead to the violin revealing the truth. This track again moves just right for the film. 'The Shed not to be Used' is special because it has the piano music that was used in the film's trailer. As I may say so, The Village is a beautiful piece of work, containing music I never expected for the movie in general but its a piece of music which fits so well with the movie, it needs perhaps the film to tell it completely. The score's highlights are wonderful as the thumping horror pieces because they bring power to the recording. But perhaps this kind of music needs the film just a little. And in a way, I find this score follows further the tone of the other Shyamalan's movies, with music that needs to support the scenes with low but beautiful music but occasionally the blasts or the fanfares are needed. The Village follows that path, yet here the soft background tones is replaced by beautiful string and solo violin based music. Again, most effective and especially the soft tones remind you easily of Snow Falling on Cedars' beauty as elegance. But like the movie which missed that ultimate spark of brilliance, so the music lacks that ultimate touch of diversity. It listens beautiful, effective as perfect, but it misses perhaps a bit of difference to make the whole album succeed in general. In the movie it doesn't fail, showing again Shyamalan needs Newton Howard to score his next awaited film repertoire.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Noah Visits (2.35)

2. What Are You Asking Me? (6.01)

3. The Bad Color (3.57)

4. Those We Don't Speak Of (3.59) Excellent Track

5. Will You Help Me? (2.34)

6. I Cannot See His Color (1.31)

7. Rituals (2.01)

8. The Gravel Road (4.31) Excellent Track

9. Race To Resting Rock (1.16)

10. The Forbidden Line (2.17)

11. The Vote (6.02) Excellent Track

12. It Is Not Real (3.36)

13. The Shed Not To Be Used (2.03)

Total Length: 43.21

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: James Newton Howard ===