Search - Howard Shore :: The Cell (2000 Film)

Intense, Very Cool Soundtrack

Richard A. Shidler | USA | 09/24/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you have seen "The Cell" - and liked it, like me - then you probably couldn't help but notice the distinctive music that played throughout. It was stark, it was intense, and it interspersed with the scenes so well, you would think that a great musical soundtrack was normal in real life. This soundtrack is not disappointing. Howard Shore did a fantastic job at orchestrating the music and composing it. My favorite track (as well as my friends') is "The Drowning" because there's some *very* festive clapping going on, and in the scene in which it plays, I can honestly say I thought Catherine and Carl were going to do a little dance...but alas, it didn't happen. So anyways, if you were entranced by the brilliant sounds in the movie, you will not be disappointed by this CD, it's haunting, entertaining, and a great listen. Don't miss out."

As chaotic and frightening as a bad dream

Scott Sweet | Colorado Springs, CO | 01/14/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Howard Shore is one of the master film composers, because instead of using music to complement the action onscreen, he uses it to remind us what's going on in the heads of the characters during their actions.Take that approach with a character whose mind is broken, and you have "The Cell." Shore's collaboration with The Master Musicians of Jajouka is chaotic, and you absolutely can't hum along with any of it, but it fits the film. In other reviews, people disagreed with equating Middle-Eastern music with evil. CONTEXT is important: in "Navy Seals," it would be a racist soundtrack. In "The Cell," It augments the mood of disorientation and fantasy central to the plot.Much of the film takes place inside Stargher's brain, so the score sets us adrift in a terrible place with few melodic anchors. We aren't given a comfortable, reassuring melody until tracks 8 and 19. One drawback is that repetition and long pauses don't transfer well from film to casual listening. I wouldn't recommend the soundtrack for those seeking catchy, easy-to-remember passages. Also, young children may find the dischord and sudden crescendoes scary. Shore has successfully approximated the sound of fear and rage entwined."

Stark, intellectual score is most original of 2000

03/29/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I found it a pity that this inspired effort by Howard Shore went unnoticed by the people who decide Oscar nominations. Just when film scores are at the lowest point possible with MI:2 and Gladiator, along comes Howard Shore to show that, yes, a film score can be every bit as original and avant-garde as John Cage. (probably a bad example, but he's all that came to mind).Also, it seems these other reviewers here have forgotten that scenes in a desert might invoke Arab influences, something not politically biased in any way. But, the seeming chaos of the Master Musicians of Jajouka was intended to shock the viewer, and be a preparation of sorts for what is to come. Indeed, in the liner notes, Shore says he had been wanting to write with the Master Musicians for some time.The following is excerpted from an interview with Howard Shore found at a website called soundtrack.net:"I notated the score in a way that was very non-Western. I used a kind of notation that's been around for at least 50 years - the Polish avant-garde developed the techniques, but I developed my own manifesto with a way of interpreting the music that I wrote. The music wasn't written in a particularly Western fashion, in terms of bars and staves." This music is NOT the fluffy norm of most recent film scores, and is rather challenging to listen to. Highly recommended to those who want a challenge; decidedly NOT recommended to those who only like pastoral and lyrical melodies (which Shore is very much capable of)."