A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

The latest film from James L. Brooks (who previously directed Terms of Endearment and As Good as it Gets, amongst others) is about a young Mexican woman and her daughter who move to California in an attempt to build a new life for themselves, which doesn't work out exactly as planned, from her attempts to breach the language barrier (from where the film takes its title) to her attempts to breach the cultural barrier.  It has got pretty decent reviews and has picked up a few acting awards (notably for Paz Vega and Cloris Leachman who play the Mexican woman and the grandmother of the American household to which she moves), and a Golden Globe nomination for its Hans Zimmer score.

Zimmer's previous score for Brooks, As Good as it Gets, was a light and attractive affair, seeing the composer ditch the synths for once and write a charming work based around a solid melodic core.  Much of the same could be said of Spanglish - while it isn't so instantly striking, it is still a lovely score.  Unsurprisingly, the Spanish flavour comes from some guitar solos played by Heitor Pereira (who also wrote additional music for the movie), which are the score's dominant factor and quite a charming one.  There are a couple of main themes, though they aren't all that memorable, with the score's impact instead coming simply from the evocative moods Zimmer creates using instrumental colour.

Alongside the guitar solos, the other instrumental performances of note come from Triology (a threesome featuring two violinists and a cellist) along with regular Zimmer performer, cellist Martin Tillman.  For want of a better phrase, some of the music is surprisingly "classical-sounding", with the composer writing compelling parts for his string soloists.  "No Left" is one of the strongest cues, beginning as a John Williams-style "happy" piece for the orchestra, and ending with a lovely solo passage.  The overall tone is light, but the score is not without more dramatic moments, with "Cooking", driven on by pizzicato strings which are such a feature of the album as a whole, leading up to a touching and emotional climax.  "Bus Stop" brings the score to a nice close, with some tender music.  (Unfortunately the album then features an exruciating performance of the Gershwin's "They Can't Take That Away From Me", warbled by Cloris Leachman and Ian Hyland.

This is a lovely score, one of Zimmer's strongest in a while, and it shows off the best side of the composer's abilities, writing rich and rewarding melodic music for an orchestra and instrumental soloists, capturing the dramatic purpose of the film and making for a fine album.  It is not a major film score, but it's one of the most pleasant soundtrack albums in some time, and its critical attention has been well-deserved.

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Tracks

1. Spanglish (2:46)
2. The Beach (9:46)
3. Welcome to the Claskys (3:19)
4. Drunk and Disorderly (2:15)
5. John Comes Home (1:55)
6. Learning English (1:32)
7. No Left (3:54)
8. Malibu (3:16)
9. Cooking (1:24)
10. Bus Stop (5:06)
11. They Can't Take That Away From Me Cloris Leachman and Ian Hyland (3:00)