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FINDING HOME
Impressive dramatic score with some
beautifully moving moments A review by JAMES SOUTHALL A 2003 movie (though seemingly not released
until 2005) directed by Lawrence Foldes, Finding
Home sees a young career woman inherit a property in Maine from her late
grandmother, and in the process of selling it off, going through all the old possessions
re-evaluating her life. I must admit, I've never seen it; I pinched the
plot outline from the IMDB. Users comments at the same site are wildly
varied; one person says "as close to perfection as a movie can get",
while another says "clichéd, contrived, silly" - who to
believe!? I'd never heard of the film until the soundtrack was released;
similarly, I'd never even heard of the composer, Joseph Conlan. In a fit
of hyperbole, he is described in the liner notes as "one of today's most
prolific and popular film composers", and they go on to name ten of his
biggest projects, literally none of which I have even head of. Maybe, though, I should start paying a bit
more attention. His music for Finding Home is frequently
attractive. The music is mainly orchestral (though no orchestra or
conductor is credited) and these passages are very attractive. There is
nothing truly distinctive, but nor need there be, with Conlan crafting some
lovely melodies. The score's main theme is heard in several pleasant
presentations, with "One Telephone Call" being a particular
highlight. However, with the film seemingly striving to offer up its fair
share of tragedy, the scores does not remain so pleasant throughout, with
several more downbeat passages which don't make such rewarding listening.
In some ways, the most impressive sections are perhaps when Conlan adds some
percussion on top of the orchestra, mercifully avoiding drum loops and opting
for some weird live instruments; this comes to the fore in "Awkward
Arrivals" and "Something About Dave", which sound almost like
they might belong in a Thomas Newman score, but are certainly entirely Conlan's
creations. When Conlan adds a solo female voice to his
music, it is also highly attractive; the one thing that doesn't really work on
the album is ironically the one thing he draws attention to in his liner notes,
which are what he describes as "experimental soundscapes" created by
manipulating digital recordings of live performance, sending things backwards,
adding effects, etc. They sound like they would probably work well in the
film, but they detract from the fine orchestral segments of the disc. At
79 minutes it's something of a struggle to get all the way through, but this
shouldn't take anything away from the core of excellent material in the score,
and hopefully we'll be hearing more from Conlan in the future. Buy
this CD from amazon.com by clicking here!
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