Search - Craig Armstrong :: The Clearing (Score)

Producer (The Insider, The Pelican Brief, Heat) Pieter Van Brugge's first directorial effort is this thriller cum psychological mural about a successful businessman (Robert Redford) suddenly kidnapped by a casual acquaintance (Willem DaFoe). Composer Craig Armstrong wisely underplays the story's cloistered landscape and tension-wracked personal revelations in his synth-orchestra hybrid score. But while many contemporary fusions of the electronic and organic have gotten a bad rap for their often soulless sturm und drang, Armstrong's deft, less-is-more tack -- and a willingness to occasionally blur the boundary between strict musical underscore and mood-enhancing fx track -- effectively creates a mood of brooding, sustained tension. But he also seasons the eerie moodiness of his score/soundscape with stark passages for solo piano that smartly mirror the film's intensely personal human dimensions. Not as hauntingly beautiful as his work on The Quiet American perhaps, but smartly compelling in its own right. --Jerry McCulley