A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

The career of director Roland Joffe has been rather frustrating to follow.  After his truly great The Killing Fields, he has consistently made films which have promised much, have had imaginative and important concepts, have frequently had large budgets, but which have rarely delivered.  His follow-up, The Mission, is absolutely gorgeous to look at (and listen to) - but faintly ridiculous as a movie.  Fat Man and Little Boy is perhaps the pick of the post-Killing Fields bunch, an intelligent if slightly cold film about the Manhattan project.  The less said about The Scarlet Letter and Goodbye, Lover the better; and then Vatel, his last film, barely even got released.  What most of these movies do have in common, though, is great music and the title missing from the middle of that list - City of Joy - is no exception.  The movie tells the story of an American doctor who ups sticks and moves to Calcutta, with the predictable result of his help for the people living in squalour being mirrored by them teaching him a thing or two about life.  Sadly, the movie - which could have been something really quite special - ends up just seeming unbelievably shallow.

Providing the music was Ennio Morricone, something he has done with great success for the director.  It features a number of quite outstanding pieces, beginning with the first one, a curiously joyful choral piece in the composer's grand tradition, with the choir chanting away, a piccolo trumpet bouncing around over the top and the orchestra giving wholehearted support.  Not quite a Morricone classic, perhaps, but a good piece of music.  Next come two of the composer's trademark, heartbreakingly beautiful pieces - there's little romance, but incredible beauty to be heard in "The Family of the Poor" and "One Night, by Chance".  When the former is reprised later on with choral accompaniment, it is a first-rate example of Morricone's abilities.  Both of the beautiful themes are given several variations over the course of the album.

It is the variation on the opening choral theme, in "Hope", which will probably provide the most surprises, as Morricone arranges it for a variety of instruments from the subcontinent including sitar, tabla and so on.  OK, so it sounds about as authentically Indian as a balti pie, but it's great to hear.  There is also rather a lot in the way of suspense music, which can admittedly occasionally be interminable, but other times is pretty interesting and impressive, especially "Crack Down".  A wonderful standalone cue is "For a Daughter's Dowry", with an unexpected appearance by a solo boy soprano, a truly gorgeous piece, which contrasts entirely with the brutal, oppressive action music of "Godfather of the Bustee" immediately afterwards.  "Calcutta" is a heartbreaking piece, full of sorrow and sadness.  

In common with some of the composer's other albums, this one is strangely sequenced and the second half of the album is dominated by a 17-minute sequence of three cues which are probably the score's least interesting, with "The Worm Turns", "The Labyrinth" and "To Calcutta" featuring some virtually-unlistenable suspense music.  The musical effects Morricone achieves during the latter of the three are impressive enough - but hardly the sort of thing one would want to spend time listening to.  Overall however, the album is an impressive one, and well worth picking up if you're a fan of the composer.

Tracks

1. City of Joy (2:11)
2. The Family of the Poor (2:40)
3. One Night, by Chance (3:39)
4. Crack Down (3:20)
5. Hope (2:19)
6. In the Labyrinth (1:43)
7. The Family of the Poor (2:08)
8. A Surgeon in Despair (2:23)
9. One Night, by Chance (1:46)
10. For a Daughter's Dowry (3:59)
11. Godfather of the Bustee (2:27)
12. Monsoon (2:09)
13. Calcutta (4:19)
14. Bustee Day (1:39)
15. The Birth (2:15)
16. The Worm Turns (3:51)
17. The Labyrinth (5:39)
18. To Calcutta (6:49)
19. The Family of the Poor (1:36)
20. To Roland (1:51)