If you watched the movie like I suggested, this should be a super easy week. If you haven't, I'll walk you through and it'll still be cake. Don't worry - knowing what happens doesn't ruin a thing in this case; it only heightens the experience.
A.R. Rahman, who won the Oscar for Best Original Song a few years ago for “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” proves with this movie that his repertoire is much more expansive than films with foreign settings.
“127 Hours” takes us into Utah’s canyonlands where mountain climber/canyoneer/outdoor enthusiast extraordinaire Aron Ralston embarks on a solo hike that changes his life forever. The intro is brilliant, from the film editing to the choice of music. “Never Hear Surf Music Again” by Free Blood sets the tone like a shot of adrenaline. Aron’s pumped. He’s leaving the city for the wilderness he loves, and although he’s not sure where he’ll end up exactly, he looks forward to the peace and solitude and beauty that nature has to offer him and the adventure that makes him feel whole.
He chooses Blue John Canyon for its beauty and for the artifacts that await him there. Thanks to the stunning visuals and beautiful instrumental “The Canyon,” we can almost feel the awe of actually being in that place with him.
For an experienced outdoorsman who has been close to death a number of times, Blue John Canyon should have been a vacation day in the park, although we all know it turns out to be anything but. The music turns the mood to despair as Aron’s right hand/wrist is trapped under an 800-pound boulder and he unable to move for 127 hours. The three “Liberation” tracks heighten the mood as he explores his options for survival. Each track becomes more and more desperate as his options waste away over that time, with things really coming to a head on the third “Liberation” instrumental, which plays as the soundtrack to the amputation scene that’s both the most terrifying part of the film, but also, the most uplifting.
The rest of the instrumentals and music set the tone for Aron’s hallucinations and memories and the waves of emotions and feelings that he’s going through, which are obviously unstable as he is dehydrated and literally starving. Some of the music, namely Bill Wither’s “Lovely Day,” are almost meant to confuse and disorient, as he must have been during that time, but also to convey the tug of war between hope and the loss of hope going on in his mind. Aside from the parts that are imagined, most of this portion of the movie is played out as Aron records goodbye messages to his family and friends on a camera he originally brought with him to tape the scenery.
Sigur Ros’ “Festival” lights the way for Ralston as he finds himself freed and finally makes his way out of the canyon and to his rescuers and to the rest of his life. It’s one of the most emotionally charged scenes I’ve seen in a movie to date. (It’s a long track, so it should be noted that the action starts at 4:38.) I bawled my eyes out with a little baby, even though I had been expecting this moment from the first time I saw the previews for the movie. It was almost overwhelming, but part of what made this movie so memorable.
What's especially unique to this film is the almost unimaginable experience that Boyle, Franco, Rahman and the whole team have helped us as the audience to feel, through both audio and visuals, with Aron as a character. Thanks to them, we can see this horrible experience for the enlightening one that Aron describes it as today.
Here's the trailer to give you a feel for the movie. I also wrote a post about it on my personal blog.
Suppose I should ALSO mention that the original song "If I Rise" was nominated for Best Original Song this year but did not win. It was sung at the awards show by Florence from Florence and the Machine, although it was written by Rahman/Dido.
The trailer also uses the song "Funeral" by Band of Horses, which I love, although it's not technically on the soundtrack.
Since Beth’s John William’s week, I have been paying more attention to soundtracks that I like and have been shopping in the section. In the event we continue with Music Togetherness, I have a few lined up for you. Keep that in mind if we come to a vote. That being said, I was excited to see a soundtrack, however, I have not yet seen the movie. Therefore my write-up probably needs to be handicapped. I have several movies ahead of it in my queue, so unless we take an additional 1 month break, I probably won’t get the pleasure of hearing this in action.
ReplyDeleteIn general, I like the A.R. Rahman tracks a whole lot more than the other featured artists. The ‘Free Blood’ track is very sexual and has some very cool drums, but without seeing the film, I am picturing James Franco in some sort of Russian Dance Club. ‘Liberation Begins’ has a very dark feel to it and paints a picture of danger hunting him. ‘Touch of the Sun’ paints a perfect picture of an amazing and peaceful view. I picture a car chase scene during ‘Liberation in a Dream’, which I am fairly certain is now what is actually going on. I can picture hope slowly fading and the days getting longer in ‘Acid Darbari’. The string section and the flute are the highlights on this piece. ‘RIP’ is pretty long, but the last 20 seconds make it worth the wait. The furious strings sections sound just like a someone going to town with a saw and you can hear the desperation going on in the scene. ‘Liberation’ is all out badass. Again, the stringed section shines, but the guitar and what sounds like a snake charmer’s flute push it over the top. I would love to watch the orchestra perform this one live. The Sigur Ros song was a bit of a snoozer for me, and unfortunately lacks the emotion I was hoping to find without the visual and heart wrenching scene. I was also surprised to hear one of the top artists Beth and I enjoy together in Dido appear in ‘If I Rise’.
I will keep an eye out for Rahman’s name going forward as I was very impressed with his work. I will append him to my list of favorites after Hans Zimmer, Clint Mansell, and John Williams.
As I mentioned during John Williams week, a soundtrack can push a very good movie into the great and timeless category. It seems, more often than not that the best films are always accompanied by terrific scores and soundtracks. That is because music plays heavily into all of our deepest emotions; it’s the directors way of manipulating us and marrying sounds and images together in film that resonate with us for our entire lives. Every time I hear “Stuck in the Middle With You” I am immediately brought back to a sadistic Michael Madsen slicing off that cops ear in Reservoir Dogs. The genius of Ennio Morricones scores from countless spaghetti westerns is the background music to everyone’s cowboy fantasies. Not having yet seen 127 Hours, I didn’t have the connection that David and Laura have listening to these tracks, but it did make me want to see this movie just a little bit more.
ReplyDeleteRahman’s original scoring to the film is quite good; these tracks are better served with visuals. They are quite atmospheric and at times pretty rocking, which to me shows him being a more contemporary composer, not just going strictly classical with his themes. It’s the songs sprinkled in between the original scoring that grabs my attention. The first track by Free Blood is strange, but if you’ve seem any of Danny Boyles other movies, you understand Danny is a little different. Bill Withers is a favorite of mine and it is physically impossible to not smile when I hear “Lovely Day”; I’m intrigued to see the way it’s used in the movie. It can accentuate a glorious scene or add complete irony to a dark turn. “Ca Plane Pour Moi” is a song I could see playing in a Wes Anderson movie, he loves using slightly obscure 70’s rock songs in his films. Esther Phillips was the real find for me this week; her seductive purr in “If You Love Me” has me scrambling to find more of her music. If you’ve ever listened to a Sigur Ros album, you know that most of them play out like soundtracks themselves. Their music is some of the most life affirming that I’ve ever heard, so putting “Festival” in the movie seems like a no-brainer for Danny Boyle. The Dido track came off as a kind of generic “play this over the movie credits” song, but overall I enjoyed what I heard and like eclectic soundtracks like this.