A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

The wonderful actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has garnered some of his best reviews yet for his portayal of Truman Capote in Capote, Bennett Miller's film which chronicles the developing relationship between the legendary author and the two killers who inspired his famous novel, "In Cold Blood".  Providing the score is Mychael Danna, whose ability to work almost exclusively on very good films must attract admiring glances even from Thomas Newman.  Much like Newman, Danna frequently takes unorthodox, quite bold approaches to films, favouring unusual instrumental ensembles and offering a commentary on the characters' inner feelings rather than a straight underscore following what's happening on-screen.

The soundtrack album, on Sony Legacy, is a whopping 77 minutes long but over an hour of that is actually recordings of Capote himself reading from "In Cold Blood", done in 1966.  It's fairly chilling stuff, though I rather doubt that many people will be sitting listening to it very often.  I doubt even more whether those who do buy the album because they're interested in the readings will ever listen to the selections from Danna's score; just as I doubt whether anyone who buys the album because they want to hear the score will ever listen to the readings.  It's one of those bizarre combinations that only ever happens on soundtrack albums, and which I can never really understand (though I guess that because Danna's score was so short, in order to be released it had to be padded out with something and this was the most appropriate choice).

While brief, Danna's music is certainly impressive.  He has taken a surprisingly conventional approach to this film, and it's one which works very well indeed.  The elegiac strings and almost pained piano solos are very moving, full of emotion.  Of particular note is the penultimate track, "Epigraph", is a stunningly powerful piece of music, one of the most poignant of Danna's career, with an intense piano solo vaguely recalling Philip Glass's The Hours.  Indeed, his whole score is a brilliant one; it's just a pity there isn't more of it!

Tracks

1. Out There (:53)
2. The village of Holcomb* (5:46)
3. The two young men had little in common* (4:55)
4. Spoon Feeding (2:43)
5. This is it, this is it, this has to be it* (:39)
6. Holcomb is twelve miles east of the mountain time zone border* (6:50)
7. NY Reading (2:17)
8. Eight non-stop passenger trains hurry through Holcomb every twenty-four hours* (8:45)
9. If One Bird (:44)
10. It was midday deep in the Mojave Desert* (2:27)
11. It was late afternoon* (5:27)
12. Perry noticed them first - hitchhikers, a boy and an old man* (9:15)
13. At five that afternoon, the long ride came to an end* (2:44)
14. Not Much Time Left (3:04)
15. Dewey had watched them die* (13:54)
16. I Thought He Was a Very Nice Gentleman (1:41)
17. Epigraph (2:18)
18. Answered Prayers (1:30)