Terry's Reviews
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Music Reviews: |
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The Village – Music by James Newton Howard Hollywood Records – 2004 |
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| I don’t care what anyone says, THE VILLAGE
is a very daring film and it features another stellar score from James Newton Howard. This
is the fourth time Howard has collaborated with M. Night Shyamalan and they have again
created excellent work. THE VILLAGE score is stately with exquisite violin by Hilary Hahn. James Newton Howard roots the score deep in elegant classical music. This gives the score the feel of an older historical timeframe, which goes along with the main story telling aspect of the film. THE VILLAGE is composed with tremendous passion and it is emotionally moving with tenderness and love. Howard makes full use of every moment choosing to go for subtly over loud approach, which really hits the heart. Like every Howard score the main theme is incredibly melodic and you will enjoy hearing it time and time again. Howard incorporates this theme all over THE VILLAGE, has it performed with different instruments and even mixes the tempo to give it all sorts of power. The suspense cues "Those We Don’t Speak Of", "The Forbidden Line", "It Is Not Real" have an impact because they are surrounded by the softer music. Powerful percussion, screaming horns are mixed to perfection to make you feel tense. I know that M. Night Shyamalan has taken a lot of heat for the choices he made as far as the story, which I feel, are actually quite bold. I don’t know if they were the best choices but James Newton Howard does his part to help Shyamalan make the film work. THE VILLAGE is one of the better soundtracks of the year and worth picking up. |
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