- #THAT NEXT PLACE THOMAS NEWMAN (MEET JOE BLACK SOUNDTRACK) HOW TO#
- #THAT NEXT PLACE THOMAS NEWMAN (MEET JOE BLACK SOUNDTRACK) TV#
This same motif is revisited in "Angela Undress", leaving us wishing for more.
In "Mental Boy", after a few seconds of weird noises, comes a beautifully innocent motif on piano. "American Beauty", "Structure and Discipline", "Blood Red" and "Any Other name" are quite brooding and ambient, underscored with subdued, elongated notes for violins, accompanied by soft piano. These percussive-oriented sections are interspersed with a number of subdued cues that reflect the sadness and loneliness that seems to emanate from these characters' lives. "Choking the Bishop" is yet another energetic short cue for detuned mandolin and other strings plucked rapidly. Though this Thomas Newman trademark sound can be heard everywhere, Newman himself now seems to have moved beyond that particular scoring style.Įxceptional in this score is the playful use of different rhythms, as in the two very short pieces for metallic-sounding percussion, "Root Beer" and "Spartanette".
#THAT NEXT PLACE THOMAS NEWMAN (MEET JOE BLACK SOUNDTRACK) TV#
Since its release, the opening and closing cues have been copied or have inspired numerous other composers for film, tv or commercial scores. A few other pieces, "Lunch with the King", "Bloodless Freak" and "Weirdest Videos" convey a similar tone, but while enjoyable, they don't have the same punch as the first and the last cues. The marimbas, other mallets and the rhythms intertwine intricately to make the opening and closing cues stand out. As he did in Diane Keaton's Unstrung Heroes, Newman creates a web of miscellaneous percussive elements enriched by an array of varied string instruments (slide guitars, dulcimer, banjo and ukulele to name a few). The musical palette used in American Beauty is as complex in tones and colors as the characters depicted in the film. Newman brings an especially positive meaning to the word original.
#THAT NEXT PLACE THOMAS NEWMAN (MEET JOE BLACK SOUNDTRACK) HOW TO#
Even in films like Little Women, Oscar and Lucinda or the more traditional Americana sounding orchestral fare in Meet Joe Black and How to Make an American Quilt, Newman consistently expands the realms of conventionality supported by Thomas Pasatieri's remarkable orchestrations. Over the years, Newman's scores have never succumbed to the ordinary. Jane's reflection could equally well have come from composer Thomas Newman. As Jane says in the film: "There is nothing worse in life than being ordinary". The brilliant script walks the fine line between drama and comedy – Mendes gives us a serious satire that is never ordinary.
Director Sam Mendes' first motion picture draws the viewer into the story of a suburban man who liberates himself from emotional paralysis when he meets his adolescent daughter’s beautiful best friend, Jane.