“The Arrival”
Composed, Conducted, and Produced by Michael Nyman
“Twelve Fingered” Piano Solos by Ryan Dorin and Michael Lang
By contrast, the film’s distinct color filters, accentuating the cold ambience of the future, is one of the movie’s best attributes, and composer Michael Nyman’s score matches this chilling effect with precision. Nyman’s minimalistic classical style had hit Hollywood’s mainstream with The Piano and, in so doing, he managed to beat the similarly-writing Philip Glass to the scene by a few years. Both Glass and Nyman would receive career boosts in 1997, with Gattaca enjoying a Golden Globe nomination and Glass’ Kundun extending that success to an Oscar nomination. While there are indeed differences in the general style of the two composers, many traditional film music collectors may write them both off due to their tendency to avoid the usual techniques used by composers in Hollywood. Nyman’s work for Gattaca is typically flowing and free-floating, failing to adhere to sharp synchronization points and instead allowing an overarching mood to be created by the soft textures of his writing.
The end result of the score in the film of Gattaca itself is yet another production element that seems to yearn for warmth but ultimately chills the atmosphere with even greater consistency. Thus, the score may be mundane, but it’s effective. In its simplicity in construct and execution, it’s an unremarkable score throughout, lacking in memorable thematic development and heavily depending on an unenthusiastic string section for its volume. Rather than attempting to address the environment of a science fiction thriller (though a few dissonant passages exist during suspense on screen, and are particularly compelling and gripping in the “Upstairs” scene and its cue), Nyman seemingly opted to focus on the film’s examination of social mores. The music underscores the rigid, anticlimactic lifestyle of both society’s genetic powers and the ominous workplace of Gattaca. Nyman conjures four themes for the film, each provided in succession in the first four tracks on the Gattaca album. The most distinctive of these is the opening theme for “The Morrow,” which is reprised at the end of the album. Like all the themes, this idea builds slowly with string layers and barely-noticeable brass and woodwinds in a supporting, volume-producing role. Never do the themes match the emotional crescendo of the film’s storyline; in fact most of the thematic performances end abruptly at the conclusion of each cue (a Glass technique in Kundun as well). This lack of maturation in the thematic development is particularly disappointing as Hawke’s character reaches his ultimate goal and his rocket’s departure to space coincides the ultimate moments of Law’s crippled life. There is no musical victory here, not even in small doses, and this causes the film to downplay the achievements of the individual character and once again point its attention to the on-going problems of the futuristic society. Sometimes, the audience needs a cookie. The music for Gattaca doesn’t give one.
The lack of pointed synchronization with the action on the screen does hinder the work significantly, especially on album. The thematic performances and meandering filler in between are hardly distinguishable due to a total lack of emphasis in any of the sections. The string players seem like they were dazed when recording this work, and given that their performances are at the heart of the score’s personality, Gattaca on album could be an incredible bore for a listener not in tune with Nyman’s chosen style. There was potential for a suspenseful climax during each pan upwards of the camera to catch a glimpse of another rocket, or perhaps a continuation of the flighty rhythm of “Becoming Jerome” (the highlight of the entire score) every time Hawke’s inferior character made the transformation into Law’s superior one, or perhaps an instrumental accent whenever Thurman’s morbidly romantic glimpses flash momentarily across the screen. Instead, the score drones on from scene to scene, with little difference between shots of violence, sex, exuberance, or death. Aside from “Becoming Jerome,” the album’s highlight is ironically Ryan Dorin and Michael Lang’s piano performance of “Impromptu in G Major, Op.90, No.3,” by Franz Schubert, heard as source music in the track “Impromptu for 12 Fingers” (which is heard during a memorable scene in the film). Otherwise, the Gattaca score is dreary musical accompaniment for a dreary film. You can’t really fault Nyman for tackling the film from the perspective of its role as a “social awareness documentary,” but the concept is so interesting, creative, and applicable that you yearn for music that will reach out and challenge your beliefs in genetics while better accentuating the inherent suspense in the film’s plot. Film score collectors purchasing this score without any context or knowledge of the film will be disappointed.
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