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Everyone who knows me is familiar about my
simpathy for jazz and other contemporary musical styles applied to film scores. Yes, for
me the orchestral film music that was born at the Golden Age is unique and never will be
matched, however I firmly believe that the modern musical languages and
instrumentation can, and sometimes must be carried to the film music. Among the
popular music styles, jazz was one of the firsts to be used to underscore
films, followed closely by blues and rock. If at the 60's and 70's the film music scenario was dominated by pop music like jazz and its
relatives funk & soul, today what we
usually hear on film is our usual and redundant orchestral score, or
electronic music with the obligatory World Music elements.
This said is refreshing when, from times to times, new film music works come
passing at large of
those current clichés, providing us some genuine moments of hearing
pleasure. That's the case of Factotum, an eclectic score provided by
the Finnish composer, singer and instrumentist Kristin
Asbjørnsen. The feature film is based on the life of American cult favorite writer Charles Bukowski and his novel of the same name. Written and directed by Brent Hamer,
the film stars Matt Dillon, Marisa
Tomei and Lili Taylor. Dillon plays Bukowski's fictional alter-ego, Henry
Chinaski, a Los Angeles writer whose major interests are women, drinking and
gambling.
In her career Asbjørnsen has a history of combining poetry with music,
and several CD tracks bring for us Bukowski's own poems sung by Kristin, heard on
film as source music or in the score. "I Wish to
Weep", for instance, provides Victorian strings to the poetry and the result
is, to say at least, elegant. Tracks like "Farewell I", "Slow Day", "My
Garden" and "If You're Going to Try" manage to capture the poet's universe
and interests. As I already said this is an ecletic work, and Kristyn utilizes
diverse musical styles and moods for the songs and score tracks. The main
score's motif is the sad melody of "Slow Day", that we first hear
carrying the more intimistic colors of piano and strings in "On the Bus" and "Reunion".
"Farewell" is another sad piece with beautiful vocalizations of Kristin,
while "Ice Plant Overture" and "In the Kitchen" bring back the Victorian
instrumentation of "I Wish to Weep". Things start to groove with "Pickles",
a bluesy track featuring electric guitars and bass. Kristin's haunting
vocalizations dominate the enigmatic "Still Awake", a very adequate musical
translation of the protagonist. "Dreamland II", with its footsteps rhythm,
electronic sound effects and Kristin voices sounds definitively new age, in
contrast to "Drunk Driving", that uses blues, jazz and the
motif of "Slow Day".
If you wish you can dance at the sound of "Remembering",
but its the blend of rhythm, strings, guitars and percussion of "Horse Race
Groove" that will make you do some moves. Sadly it's too short... the album
concludes with "Slow Days II" and I finally realized how deeply melancholic
and sensual are Asbjørnsen's voice and music, a combination that I have no doubts about to be
very
attractive and sucessfull on film.
The score is performed by the composer and her band Dadafon, and I have no reservations to recommend this
original jazz-pop hybrid score that showcases not only Asbjørnsen's breath-taking vocals,
but her undeniable talent as musician. At last, just for the record: this review was
written when this soundtrack still was set to be released, and it was
based on an advanced promotional CD of Factotum that carries a
different cover art from the regular Milan album. |
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