Visit the Movie Wave Store | Movie Wave Home | Reviews by Title | Reviews by Composer | Contact me TOWELHEAD Nice miniature score is typical quirky Newman A review by JAMES SOUTHALL Music composed by THOMAS NEWMAN Rating * * *

Performed by UNNAMED ENSEMBLE conducted by THOMAS NEWMAN Engineer TOMMY VICARI Produced by THOMAS NEWMAN Album running time 14:03 Released by LAKESHORE RECORDS Catalog number - Album cover copyright (c) 2007 Warner Independent Pictures; review copyright (c) 2008 James Southall.

American Beauty writer Alan Ball's cinematic directorial debut was Towelhead (though he did a little directing on his exceptional tv series Six Feet Under).  Given those two famous pieces of previous work, it's no surprise that it's a satirical take on stereotypes, this time with a half-Lebanese girl breaking every one of her strict father's rules as she comes of age in the US.  The film's title comes from a racist slur directed towards Arabs during the first Gulf War.  The biggest surprise about the well-reviewed film is that it was released without a murmour of publicity by its studio and so sank without trace. Ball continues his collaboration with Thomas Newman, one of Hollywood's finest composers; this was his only score of 2007 (the film was released in festivals then, but not for wider public digestion until almost a year later).  His very brief score is like a slightly darker take on his Beauty style - there's no catchy marimba theme here, but the percussion-dominated music is very much in the same vein.  In fact, the opening cue, "Nothing is Private" (the film's original title) is pure percussion.  "Snow Queen" is one of those archetypal Newman "quirky themes", catchy in its way but very brief. The only one of the eight tracks here which isn't very brief is the third one, "Jazira Maroun", actually from the film's end title.  Its layered construction is impressive and, while I suppose this style has become slightly old hat now that Newman has used it to such great effect on several occasions, it's still enjoyable.  "Vuoso" is much darker, with an Arabic wind instrument (which may or may not be a ney - I'm about as good at identifying Arabic wind instruments as I am at making elaborate sculptures of famous cafes in Newfoundland, using only bowler hats) signifying the shift in tone.  This continues in "Rifat Maroun", on which a percussion solo becomes more and more intense before reaching fever-pitch at the end. "Glamour Shots" is an enjoyable little electric guitar riff; "Rain and Good Weather" reprises the atmosphere of the earlier "Snow Queen"; and finally the titular closing track does wrap things up nicely, percussion, synths, guitars and ney (well, maybe a ney) combining well.  This is an enjoyable little series of vignettes from Newman.  It's only 14 minutes long, so the decision to release it exclusively as a download seems entirely sensible; hardly an essential Newman release, but it's entertaining enough and something decent to use to pass a quarter of an hour. Tracks Nothing is Private (:40) Snow Queen (1:09) Jazira Maroun (3:48) Vuoso (1:03) Rifat Maroun (2:00) Glamour Shots (:59) Rain and Good Weather (1:33) Towelhead (2:51)