Chris Jones 2003-03-26
Before Solaris's release critical fears ran high that re-making a film, seemingly set in stone by Andrei Tarkovsky, was folly of the highest order. Thus, all aspects of the project fall prey to the same harsh scrutiny.
So it is with considerable relief that Stephen Soderbergh, when having another crack at filming Stanislaw Lem's classic tale of loss and misunderstanding, chose his soundtrack with exemplary care. Long-time collaborator, Cliff Martinez, has produced music that more than meets the challenge.
Lem's novel concerns a psychiatrist's attempts to comprehend the fate of a scientific expedition to the distant planet Solaris, a world shrouded in a nebulous living ocean. On arrival he discovers the planet's incredible secret. It can steal into the subconscious and make our desires real. Without spoiling the plot too much it is not entirely insignificant that Chris Kelvin (said shrink) is still mourning a lost love - the beautiful Rheya.
Soderbergh, in his brief sleeve notes pays homage to Martinez's pivotal role in helping the director to tell the story. While the titles all refer to distinct sections of the film the overall feeling is of a floating, dreamlike wash of sound and gamelan-like percussiveness.
Strings are muted and orchestration so subtle as to be almost non-existent (respect to ex-Zappa sidekick Bruce Fowler for this light touch). In other words the music perfectly captures the mood of the film. A brooding slow, meditative work that is never afraid to leave the viewer/listener to draw their own conclusions. And to be set adrift like Kelvin himself. Not in the vast emptiness of space, but in the infinitely more chilling abyss of the subconscious.
Like Soderbergh's icily muted cinematic palette, Martinez's textures are at once samey, yet never boring. Paradoxical? Yes. But to see the film is to understand what a challenge it was to convey the kind of existentialism that mainstream Hollywood is normally so bereft of. Just for once this is thoughtful stuff; music for adults.
-bbc review-
my cents; this movie would have been unwatchable without cliff martinez. his ambient
skills with homemade acoustic keyboards and muted steel drums soaked in reverb make it.
of course the strings and samples also are well done with restraint.
martinez owns and plays a cristal bachet(pictured in previous post) which makes him a rad dude in my book.
this just plain a listenable lp. akin to an eno ambient yet way different.
1. Is That What Everybody Wants
2. First Sleep
3. Can I Sit Next To You
4. Will She Come Back
5. Death Shall Have No Dominion
6. Maybe You're My Puppet
7. Don't Blow It
8. Hi Energy Proton Accelerator
9. Wear Your Seat Belt
10. Wormhole
11. We Don't Have To Think Like That Anymore
...
And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.
-- Dylan Thomas
1/10/11
solaris sounds
Chris Jones 2003-03-26
Before Solaris's release critical fears ran high that re-making a film, seemingly set in stone by Andrei Tarkovsky, was folly of the highest order. Thus, all aspects of the project fall prey to the same harsh scrutiny.
So it is with considerable relief that Stephen Soderbergh, when having another crack at filming Stanislaw Lem's classic tale of loss and misunderstanding, chose his soundtrack with exemplary care. Long-time collaborator, Cliff Martinez, has produced music that more than meets the challenge.
Lem's novel concerns a psychiatrist's attempts to comprehend the fate of a scientific expedition to the distant planet Solaris, a world shrouded in a nebulous living ocean. On arrival he discovers the planet's incredible secret. It can steal into the subconscious and make our desires real. Without spoiling the plot too much it is not entirely insignificant that Chris Kelvin (said shrink) is still mourning a lost love - the beautiful Rheya.
Soderbergh, in his brief sleeve notes pays homage to Martinez's pivotal role in helping the director to tell the story. While the titles all refer to distinct sections of the film the overall feeling is of a floating, dreamlike wash of sound and gamelan-like percussiveness.
Strings are muted and orchestration so subtle as to be almost non-existent (respect to ex-Zappa sidekick Bruce Fowler for this light touch). In other words the music perfectly captures the mood of the film. A brooding slow, meditative work that is never afraid to leave the viewer/listener to draw their own conclusions. And to be set adrift like Kelvin himself. Not in the vast emptiness of space, but in the infinitely more chilling abyss of the subconscious.
Like Soderbergh's icily muted cinematic palette, Martinez's textures are at once samey, yet never boring. Paradoxical? Yes. But to see the film is to understand what a challenge it was to convey the kind of existentialism that mainstream Hollywood is normally so bereft of. Just for once this is thoughtful stuff; music for adults.
-bbc review-
my cents; this movie would have been unwatchable without cliff martinez. his ambient
skills with homemade acoustic keyboards and muted steel drums soaked in reverb make it.
of course the strings and samples also are well done with restraint.
martinez owns and plays a cristal bachet(pictured in previous post) which makes him a rad dude in my book.
this just plain a listenable lp. akin to an eno ambient yet way different.
1. Is That What Everybody Wants
2. First Sleep
3. Can I Sit Next To You
4. Will She Come Back
5. Death Shall Have No Dominion
6. Maybe You're My Puppet
7. Don't Blow It
8. Hi Energy Proton Accelerator
9. Wear Your Seat Belt
10. Wormhole
11. We Don't Have To Think Like That Anymore
...
And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.
-- Dylan Thomas
