Hurlyburly

I've heard the buzz for this movie for over six months, and was excited to see it when it would hit wide release. I've become enamored with Sean Penn as a director and as an actor even after his period of being notoriously linked up with Madonna and not taken seriously as an actor. Another draw for me to the film is Kevin Spacey, who I'd have to admit I hadn't noticed in roles until The Usual Suspects, but have been more than willing to catch anything he's in, both for his amazing acting ability and more often the humor he brings to his roles. You'd figure after listing the two big draws in the film that would be it, but we get Robin Wright Penn (Sean's wife and star of The Princess Bride), Anna Paquin (The Piano), Meg Ryan (Sleepless In Seattle), Garry Shandling, and Kevin's co-star in The Usual Suspects, Chazz Palminteri. The plot comes from a play by David Rabe in which the lives of various folks intersect and intertwine, full of dark, dark drug and violent comedy, as they spiral out of control.

The music itself, written by David Baerwald and the accompanying Palindrome Floating Band (with well known film composer Mark Isham as well as many other jazz session musicians), it's a moody fanticiful work, drawing from Isham's own work on a similar film, Robert Altman's Short Cuts. It could be said that the score is "all lounge jazz, all the time" but that wouldn't entirely be fair. Mr. Baerwald does happen to allow many of his pieces to stand alone, works that could be listened to by a casual patron to soundtracks, but it still allows itself to set the "odd" moods and emotions required for the film. One of the odder standouts in the music is the editing in of wordless vocal tracks by singer Petra Haden, adding a juvenile quality to otherwise serious moments. I really liked this album, maybe because I'm a fan of jazz as well as film music, but I think it's soothing quality would act as a perfect counterpoint to the film's events. It's not a rousing pompous themed score that has prevailed recently this past year with holiday and early spring releases pumping the audience for the coming summer moths of big ticket films. It's nice that a small semi-indie film comes along that would have the right quality, both on screen and off (with the release of this score) to make it enjoyable to go to the theater again, no matter how small the audience eventually ends up being. It's a good first score for Baerwald, and hopefully is a sign that getting together.