The Time Traveler's Wife Composed by Mychael Danna
New Line Records (2009)
Rating:
8/10
Soundclips below provided by
AmazonMP3
“Through his
well-crafted score, MYCHAEL DANNA helps you to feel this destined
love, while simultaneously making you ponder on this exotic dilemma
these lovers are in.”
Love and Back Again
Review by Christopher Coleman
Romantic films that are box-office hits are pretty rare, although dozens upon
dozens of them are released every year. For everY TITANIC, NOTEBOOK or ATONEMENT
there are countless others that, while managing to draw many-a-female tear,
don't draw equal numbers of dollars. On the other side of the ticket-stub, there
have been even fewer films about time travel that turned into box office
bonanzas. In fact, I cannot think of even one. So what an intriguing idea. Let's
combine these two maddening concepts into a single film. That daring experiment
comes in the form of THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE based on Audrey Neffinegger's hit
2003 book of the same title. Director Robert Schwentke did well to arm himself
with Eric Bana (didn't he learn his lesson in Star Trek that time travel isn't a
good idea?) and Rachel McAdams as the lead actors and screenwriter Joel Rubin,
who won an Oscar for his screenplay for GHOST. Still, the potential cosmic
backlash in combining such deep issues of the mind (or science) with those of
the heart could be more than a bit devastating to all involved...including
audiences.
As opposed to his vengeful mission in Star Trek earlier this year, this time a
genetic defect keeps Mr. Bana time-hoping in and out of the life of his future,
current, and past wife. While the notion of meeting your, full-grown, future
husband while you are still an adolescent be romantic, the repercussions of
having a disappearing husband are numerous...and would seem to be clear. Of
course, that's where the heart closes it's eyes and dives head long anyway. I
had vainly hoped that there would be some balance to all of the lovey-dovey-ness
by way of explanation of this time-travelling issue. Plain and simple, there was
none. I should have know it, but THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE focuses on the
emotional repercussions of this unique relational issue. The film makes no
attempt to satisfy the intellectual conundrums it flaunts in our faces and this
has left some sadly disconnected with this couple and their plight.
Regardless of the film's many weaknesses, the glaring strength is composer
MYCHAEL DANNA's beautiful, original score. It will come as no surprise that
Danna's music features many of the main staples of the romantic score: brilliant
strings, soulful piano, woodwinds, cello...the works. With these in hand, DANNA
goes on to craft some truly intoxicating, thematic material. Wave upon wave of
musical romance is balance out with some evocative instrumentation and
production representing the idea of time travel. Through his well-crafted score,
MYCHAEL DANNA helps you to feel this destined love, while simultaneously making
you ponder on this exotic dilemma these lovers are in.
For Claire (Rachel McAdams) we have a soft undulating theme introduced in
"Meadows" (3) and reprised on occasion afterward in the climactic "See You
Again" (22). Danna even puts a playful, pizzicato twist on this theme in "Home"
(10). The second idea, which is slightly more melancholy but hardly less
beautiful, is first heard in "How Does it Feel?" (4) and later in "New Year's
Eve" (20). In both cases, Danna effectively uses strings and woodwind melodies
to charm us. Truth be told, either one of these themes alone could support most
romantic-dramas released these days, but MYCHAEL DANNA does not stop there. In
"Alba" (13), he introduces a third, emotionally moving theme representing Henry
and Claire's daughter, Alba. While somewhat sad around the edges in the initial
performance, by the time we reach "It's a Girl" in track 17, we are familiar
enough with the melody that we can completely sink ourselves into it's full
symphonic beauty - one of the most rapturous pieces we've been treated to in
2009. While MYCHAEL DANNA has provided some very moving moments in scores like
THE NATIVITY STORY or ARARAT, THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE may be tops. Now, having
the romantic elements nailed down is one thing, but what does the composer do to
keep this score from becoming all gush and no guts? What does he do to make his
score stand out from the 15 million other romantic dramas out there?
Countering all of this sentimentality, Danna does something very interesting to
represent both Henry (Eric Bana) and his little "chrono-genetic" disorder. In
many of the key pieces, we hear a variety of chromatic percussion, bells, chimes
and metal instruments of all sorts. Additionally, Danna introduces reversed
samples. The former bring the idea of something mystical and ancient (a tone
that Danna has proven his talent for in many previous efforts), while the
latter, a clear connection to the idea of moving backwards in time. Simple, but
it works wonderfully. We get our first taste of this in track 2, "I'm You Henry"
and very effectively later on in "Testing" (12). Hints of these metallic
percussion and reversed samples creep into many of the tracks, giving the score
an intriguing, additional layer, while ever reminding us of the story's central,
relational hurdle. Going a step further in defining Henry, Danna gives him his
own theme played on modulated synth. Another interesting choice by Danna, as
this musically adds to the thought of "warped time." Again, Danna introduces
this early in the score in "I'm You Henry" (2) and bringing it back in "Train"
(6) and "See You Again" (22).
The final components of THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE are comprised of darker
musings, a Christmas carol, and two pop songs. First, some of the darker and
more intense moments of the film allow MYCHAEL DANNA to introduce some
dissonance as in: "Do You Know When" (11) and "Who Would Want That?" (15).
Second, the soundtrack is launched with a few moments from the classic, German
Christmas carol, "Es 1st Ein Ros" (1) and then reprised via a brief, violin
performance in "Five Years" (18). New Line Records release of this original
soundtrack also includes two pop songs: one a disasterous entry and the other a
fitting and welcome inclusion. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (8) by Joy Division is
a dank and depressing song that is pure drudgery, while the concluding track
"Broken" (24) is a more appropriate song in terms of both tone and lyrics. The
overall vibe of THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE is one that, while unashamedly
romantic, contains enough musical creativity to set it a part from any other
romantic score thus far through 2009. And I will go as far to say that this
score may very well be the best score of any genre to grace my ears this year to
date. THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE might might be something both sexes may want to
skip until it's DVD-time, but don't deprive yourself of another classy and
thoughtful effort from the underappreciated MYCHAEL DANNA.
