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ANNA AND THE KING Beautiful
epic music for beautiful epic film A review by JAMES SOUTHALL Andy Tennant's Anna and the King hearkens back to a bygone age of
filmmaking. A remake of the classic story, it centres on old-fashioned
storytelling and emotion for its core. It did not do well either
critically or commercially but it had me enthralled; I found it to be a film of extraordinary power and also exquisite beauty, that features
strong performances by Jodie Foster and, especially, Chow Yun-Fat, some striking scenery captured by cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, and a brilliant recreation of the Thai royal palace by Luciana Arrighi. Topping it all off is the magnificent score by George Fenton,
going through the strongest period of his career at the time. Epic romance, intimate drama and thunderous action are combined in a real tour-de-force, a showpiece for just how good
even modern film music actually can be when the composer is talented and the director is sympathetic and allows the composer to go away and do what he does best.
While so many scores seem to be tending towards one homogeneous gloop, it's a
delight to hear an old-fashioned one like this which is based around melody,
simple but effective orchestration and a keen dramatic sense. The
highlight is the memorable love theme; its most soaring performance is probably in "Anna Returns", but there are also much more intimate arrangements, such as in "Moonlit Beach".
Having become renowned for his scores for romantic comedies and period drama,
one area with which Fenton has not been particularly associated is action music,
but there are some segments of Anna and the King that show Fenton has just as much talent here as anywhere else: the thunderous "Rajah Attack", or the percussive "Betrayed" and "The Bridge" showcase a
different but impressive side to the composer's talents. Fenton has always been good at incorporating ethnic elements into his scores, right from the early days with works such as
Gandhi and Cry Freedom to more recent works like Shanghai Vice
and this. In fact, some parts of Shanghai Vice could almost be seen as a dry run for this
score: here, Fenton deftly counterbalances the sound of a traditional, western symphony orchestra with the erhu and various exotic woodwind and percussion instruments. The
best example of this is in "The Execution", probably the finest cue in the whole score.
It's powerful and emotional music. There are multiple themes here: aside from the main love theme, chief among
them is "Tuptim", which is exquisite; and there's another love theme as well,
first appearing in "I Am King, I Shall Lead" and later making a reappearance in
the finale, "I Have Danced with a King", as Jodie Foster's character recalls the earlier waltz. This track then builds into the kind of breathtaking conclusion that you always knew was going to appear at the end of the disc, a
marvelously romantic and highly-moving and emotional finale to the score. Also included is an excellent song, co-written by Fenton, based around the main love theme, and sung well by Joy Enriquez. Both song and score earned a Golden Globe nomination in 1999, and I fully
expected the film to go on and do well at the Oscars. Just shows what I
know. I still think it's wonderful. This score was the third in
quick succession that seemed to be suggesting he was heading firmly to the top
of the A-list (the others being Dangerous Beauty and Ever After)
but, sadly, none of the films made too much of an impression at the box office
and the composer has only fleetingly been able to find projects which allow him
to show off his abilities to the full, the most notable being the wonderful Blue
Planet tv series. Instead, he's been firmly in romantic comedy
territory for most of the time. I'm sure that at some stage he will be
able to make a return to this kind of grand scoring and I look forward to that
with baited breath; in the mean time, Anna and the King is a wonderful
score, one of the finest of the decade. Buy
this CD from amazon.com by clicking here! Tracks |