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“If you are in an
introspective mood, then you'll likely enjoy Kilar's work here and
If you are into some eclectic reminiscing then you'll be quite taken
with the first half of this soundtrack. But taken together WE OWN
THE NIGHT ends up being a rather odd listening experience.”
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The Yin and the Gang
Review by Christopher Coleman
James Gray doesn't direct a ton of movies, but when he does, he seems
partial to having actors Mark Wahlberg and Joacquin Phoenix star in them.
James Gray has only directed a handful of films since the mid-90s, and
apparently prefers scores that are generally subdued, dark, and brooding.
Gray's 2007 project, WE OWN THE NIGHT, reportedly took years to write, but
its unlikely much of that time was spent deciding who would play the main
roles or what type of score he would have. For his latest project, Gray
kept to form. Wahlberg and Phoenix play brothers who live on opposite
sides of the law and are at each others throats. As Joseph (Wahlberg)
follows in the footsteps of their father as a policeman, Bobby (Phoenix)
changes his surname and lives the high-life of the late 1980s running in
the circle of the Russian mob of Brooklyn, NY. The tension of WE OWN THE
NIGHT is to see who actually owns the night: the police or the mob. The
night life of the 1980s dance scene is contrasted with the cold,
midnight-blue of New Yorks finest. It's about opposites and what it
takes to get the two sides to attempt some sort of synthesis. They can
try, but they never really mix. It's the yin and the yang and this
contrast is carried right over into the film's soundtrack.
The soundtrack for WE OWN THE NIGHT represents the two musical sides of
the film well. On the one hand, we have an odd collection of popular songs
used to represent the wild life of Bobby. While some of these well-known
songs do add the "life" and color I'm sure Gray was after, I have to say
it is an "odd collection" because the songs used were all released years
before the setting of the film, 1988. "Let's Dance" (2) by David Bowie
comes from 1983. Blonde has two songs featured, "Heart of Glass" (1) from
1978 and "Rapture" (3) from 1980. "A Message to You Rudy" (5) and A Little
Bit of Soap (6) are both from the 1960s. And there's more. Included is
Louis Prima's famous rendition of "I Ain't Got Nobody" (9) which is from
1956. I find this strange too, since David Lee Roth's version of the very
same song was released in 1985. Why not use that one? Why use songs that
are not accurate to the setting of the film? Perhaps INXS, Robert Palmer,
and Salt-N-Pepa, didn't quite capture the mood director James Gray was
looking for and true-1988-songs would have made for an even wilder
contrast with composer WOJCIECH KILAR's forlorn score.
Now, onto "the other hand." Composer Kilar is one of the most prolific
composers of the 20th century; composing for some 50 years now. He has
written scores for well over 100 films and Kilar is one of the most
interesting and quotable composers around. While the first half of the
soundtrack gives us the sanguine-portion of the music, Kilar, on the
second half, delivers the melancholic. In much the same way as Howard
Shore scored Gray's THE YARDS in 2000, Kilar's score is carried by long
string performances occasionally lead by woodwinds, tense and even
menacing. Again, the motif of this yin and yang is found but this time
within the score itself. There is the dark, heavy side but also a light,
innocent side. The music representing Bobby the Bad is usually of this
sort see: "Bobby Gets News" (14), "Bobby Breaks Leg" (17), and "Funeral"
(20). Now, in stark contrast to Bobby's intensity and darkness, Joseph's
theme is music-box like, innocent and even playful: "Bobby Sees Joe" (15),
"Bobby and Joe Talk" (21). Evoking audible elements of both light
and dark, Kilar's score in itself successfully captures, if not creates, a
tragic-grey mood that hangs over every one of his tracks.
So there we have it. Both sides of the coin. The light and the dark. The
law and the lawbreaker. The Yin and the gang. Lakeshore's release
capture's the essence of WE OWN THE NIGHT, a film that didn't quite
execute what it set out to accomplish. WOJCIECH KILAR executes his duties
pretty well and if this was a score album alone it would likely warrant a
more generous rating of 6/10. But it's not. If you are in an introspective
mood, then you'll likely enjoy Kilar's work here and If you are into some
eclectic reminiscing then you'll be quite taken with the first half of
this soundtrack. But taken together WE OWN THE NIGHT ends up a
rather odd listening experience.
|
Track |
Track Title |
Track Time |
Rating |
|
1 |
Heart of Glass -
Blondie |
5:48 |
** |
|
2 |
Let's Dance
- David
Bowie |
4:08 |
** |
|
3 |
Rapture
-
Blondie |
6:28 |
** |
|
4 |
Message
to
You
Rudy
-
The
Specials |
2:53 |
** |
|
5 |
A
Little
Bit
of
Soap
-
The
Jarmels |
2:14 |
** |
| 6 |
Que Pasa/ Me No Pop - Coati Mundi |
6:20 |
** |
| 7 |
Should I - Louis Prima |
2:03 |
** |
| 8 |
Maraca - Descarga Total |
6:03 |
** |
| 9 |
I Ain't Got Nobody - Louis Prima and Keely Smith |
4:38 |
** |
| 10 |
Mambo Diablo - Tito Puente |
4:10 |
** |
| 11 |
I'll Be Seeing You - Jackie Gleason |
3:03 |
** |
| 12 |
Club Raid |
1:31 |
*** |
| 13 |
Dad Visits Bobby |
1:30 |
*** |
| 14 |
Boddy Gets News |
0:43 |
*** |
| 15 |
Bobby Sees Joe |
2:08 |
*** |
| 16 |
Bobby Kiss Amanda |
1:25 |
*** |
| 17 |
Bobby Breaks Leg |
1:46 |
*** |
| 18 |
Vadim Escapes |
2:59 |
*** |
| 19 |
Burt Dies |
1:03 |
*** |
| 20 |
Funeral |
1:08 |
*** |
| 21 |
Bobby and Joe Talk |
0:50 |
*** |
| 22 |
Planning the Bust |
1:48 |
*** |
| 23 |
Vadim Dies |
2:46 |
*** |
| 24 |
End Credits |
2:56 |
*** |
| |
Total Running Time (approx) |
70 minutes |
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