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Composed by
HANS ZIMMER

Rating
** 1/2

Album running time
44:56

Performed by
HANS ZIMMER
Bass
IAN LEES
Humming
GERARD DEPARDIEU

Engineered by
BRENDAN MORLEY
PAUL GRANT
Produced by
HANS ZIMMER
PETER WEIR

Released by
VARESE SARABANDE
Serial number
VSD-5309

Artwork copyright (c) 1991 Touchstone Pictures; review copyright (c) 2003 James Southall

 

GREEN CARD

Moody and unusual synth score
A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Peter Weir has made his share of excellent films, but it's unlikely that Green Card will ever be considered to be among them.  A Frenchman (played by the actor Hollywood always turns to when it wants a Frenchman, Gérard Dépardieu) wants to move to America but needs a Green Card - which he would get if he got married.  A horticuluralist (played by Andie MacDowell) wants to move into a nice flat with a greenhouse but "the rules state" that the flat is for married couples only.  (What genius came up with that!?)  So they get married for the sake of convenience.  And then, obviously, fall in love.

Hans Zimmer's written his share of scores for pretty light comedies in his time and most of them are really very good.  Green Card is a bit different.  To start with you'd never have even the vaguest inkling that it's a comedy at all, with wailing vocals, mean and moody synths and not much in the way of melody being the dominating factors in the early score tracks.  Quite how it can fit with the film I don't know.  Things start to be a little more expected around "Greenhouse", when things get a lot lighter and fluffier, though still without much of a memorable theme (unusual, for a Zimmer score).  After Mozart's Clarinet Concerto the score changes tone again, with more (electric) piano-dominated material emerging to provide some playful and attractive moments.  Things end with a return to the considerably darker style heard at the start of the disc, and then a song.

Green Card shares much more in common with Maurice Jarre's horrible, anonymous synth scores for Weir's earlier films than with Zimmer's other contributions to this genre, but in fairness it is never quite so bland and virtually every track of score contains at least something to cling onto and make it at least a little interesting.  But it will certainly not go down as one of Zimmer's better scores.

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Tracks

  1. Subway Drums Larry Wright (1:28)
  2. Instinct (3:33)
  3. Restless Elephants (2:55)
  4. Cafe Africa (2:59)
  5. Greenhouse (3:15)
  6. Moonlight (1:23)
  7. 9am Central Park (1:48)
  8. Mozart: Adagio from Clarinet Concerto in A Major (8:37)
  9. Silence (4:37)
  10. Instinct II (3:09)
  11. Asking You (1:45)
  12. Pour Bronté (6:19)
  13. Eyes on the Prize The Emmaus Group Singers (3:03)