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BT is a
composer who, besides Monster, is
mostly known by his score for The
Fast and The Furious (2001): a trance music pioneer, whose
career began with training in classical music and an education at the
Berklee College of Music, which gave him the ability to direct eighty-piece
orchestras for film projects. BT has also scored films
such as Under Suspicion and
Go and Driven. He is also
recognized for producing artists such as NSYNC and Britney Spears, remixing
Madonna, Lenny Kravitz, Korn and Seal, and working with Sting and Peter
Gabriel. With a résumé like this, writer/director
Patty Jenkins hired BT to create an innovative score for the movie that gave
Charlize Theron her Best Actress Academy Award.
When debating Monster, people
most often discuss Theron's impressive physical transformation into the
serial killer Aileen Wuornos instead of acting, writing, directing or
scoring. It's to be regretted, because these are very important aspects of
filmmaking. And about the music, as great Bernard Herrmann used to say,
"The film needs the cement of
music. I never saw a better film without it".
It’s said that a good music score must be invisible, tapping into the
viewer's subconscious without drawing attention to its presence. It may be
true in some cases, but also there's the undeniable fact that an exceptional
score noticeably heightens the viewer's involvement in the narrative. Try to
figure Vertigo without
Herrmann’s masterpiece score, or The
Return of The King with no music at all - as result we would have two
great movies weakened by the absence of magnificent music.
Anyway, this release of the Monster soundtrack
is unique not only for the merits of the music itself, but also for the form
it was conceived and performed. BT choose to conceptualize and record the
score in 5.1 DTS Surround, utilizing the format to engulf the audience with
the tones that he created to enhance the dark subject matter of the film.
Atypical musical methods were used to complement the psyche of Aileen
Wuornos. A particularly noteworthy creative decision is the inclusion of the
15th-century instrument called the Vielle à Roue, also known as the
hurdy-gurdy. This exotic instrument, along with unique uses of piano,
guitars, strings, and electronics programming, offered a purely distinct
style to score.
The music has a lot to offer to the listener, from eerie portions that
contain grating, high-pitched noises (like "The Unbalanced
Equation"), to subtle layering and textures that BT builds upon one
simple theme. The track "Bad Cop" starts quietly but with sinister
undertones, and features piano, hurdy-gurdy, brushed guitar, baritone
guitar, miscellaneous percussion, electronic sounds and processing, and also
guitars played with a metal-flanged pick. It’s a fine example from the
many experimental sounds devised for the soundtrack. The music gradually
encircles the listener, channel by channel, growing darker and more ominous.
Even without seeing the images does the listener get an overwhelming
impression of the scene from the sense of dread expressed by the music.
"Bus Goodbye" is
an ambient,
spooky music which makes extensive and integrated use of the surround
channels, a fine example from the avant-garde elements that were developed
as the project was discussed between the director Jenkins, the composer and
even with the star Theron. In the other hand "Childhood Montage",
the lyrical title sequence track, is a more streamlined melody, but even in
this theme the music (which reminds me the Tangerine Dream's style a little
bit) transmits to the listener the sad sense of Wuornos' fate. But
there's some tender moments like "Ferris Wheel", the love theme,
and Americana-inspired melodic sensibilities that blends
with the non-traditional instrumentation.
This double disc package offers both a 74-minute stereo
CD of original music extracted from the film's
score, as well as a DVD with over two hours of original BT compositions plus
numerous exclusive audio/video extras, everything
presented in awesome DTS 5.1 surround sound. And If
you think that listening to two hours worth of this music would
quickly become monotonous, you will soon find that the soundtrack has a lot
to be absorbed in several listenings. In the technical and sensorial aspect,
the DTS soundtrack is excellent and quite involving. Instruments emanate
from all directions, creating a wholly engaging sound field. Through the DVD
disc animated menu you do have remote access to the 24 score cues and some
interesting extras: text introduction (which is the same set of production
notes found in the case insert), cast and crew biographies, original
trailer, production notes and photo gallery.
The best special feature is a
15-minute interview with BT and Patty Jenkins: this feature, as well as all
the remaining extras, is presented in anamorphic widescreen with the option
of DTS 5.1 or PCM stereo sound. Both discuss their collaborative effort to
create the music, and provide a worthwhile analysis of the score and how its
themes tied into the film. The section Film
Mixing Demo offers the viewer a chance to listen to three audio groups,
called stems, from the film: "Dialogue", "Effects", and
"Music". The viewer can isolate any one stem, or choose from a
combination of the three and discover how important each stem is to the
final mix. This provides a perfect example of how crucial music is to
the overall impact of a motion picture. The final special feature is titled Re-mix, an online challenge to re-mix BT's key score cues for one of
the main themes in Monster. More
information on this challenge can be found by inserting the DVD into a
DVD-ROM drive, or by accessing a special website.
After having watched and listened
to all this package content, I can only figure that this is the ideal way to
release a film soundtrack: an extended version in its original 5.1
theatrical audio format, but also offering a second disc containing a
2-channel PCM mix, compatible with all standard CD players since not all
music fans have 5.1 or DTS equipment. I only hope that BT:
Music From & Inspired by the Film Monster will be the first of
a series, and that someday this
practice will become the norm for all film soundtrack releases.
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