SOUNDTRACK: TINDERSTICKS-Claire Denis Film Scores 1996-2009: White Material [CST077] (2009).
White Material is the most recent soundtrack that the Tindersticks created for Claire Denis. It was recorded between their “reunion” album The Hungry Saw and their latest album Falling Down a Mountain.
This is a very moody soundtrack. The guitars set a brisk but desperate-sounding pace. There are feedback squalls that echo for even more tension. The feedback could be any number of things as well: squeaky machines, industrial noise, or simply disconcerting sounds.
There is a repeated motif throughout the score that morphs and blends with the tone. The overall feel of the soundtrack is unified but it never sounds like you’re listening to the same few notes repeated (which is actually what it is, the songs use a very limited palette).
For such a limited palette of music, they really manage to give a diverse picture of the movie. The way “Andre’s Death” builds, using those same few notes and feedback is truly amazing. The tension that has been building throughout the score really comes to a head in those 2 minutes. Contrarily, the flute that plays over those same notes in “Children’s Theme 2” is a haunting exploration of the theme.
This soundtrack isn’t as industrial/weird as L’intrus, but it is probably more intense and spooky. It’s amazing how evocative these guys are.
[READ: June 22, 2011] Merit Badges
Sarah brought this book home, but she didn’t read it. It sounded pretty good (I mean it won the 2009 AWP Award for the Novel), so I decided to give it a go.
The book seemed strange to me in the way it was set up: it seemed to have a very specific structure but it didn’t always follow it exactly. So, there are four main protagonists who write chapters of the book. But they don’t each get a turn, in fact one, Barbara doesn’t really have much to say until much later when her story becomes very compelling. It also advanced over the years with no real explanation of pacing or even of when a new narrator has jumped ahead several years.
I assumed this was going to be a story of four people looking back on their high school years. But indeed, it’s about four people looking back on their whole lives, as they grow together, drift apart, come back into each others lives and then disappear again. In that way, it was also a bit hard to get my bearings. It was also hard for me to keep all of the characters straight. Because even though there are four narrators there are many many more kids introduced in the beginning of the story.
Each chapter opens by stating who the narrator is. The first few narrators are Chimes Sanborn (Prologue), Quint (Woodwork), Slow Slocum (Cooking), Chimes (Drafting), Barb Carimona (Music), Quint (Mammals), Quint (Crime Prevention) etc. So it’s not consistent.
But also, as you can see, all of the chapter titles are named after Merit badges (which I liked quite a bit). The subtitle describes what you have to do to achieve the badge (and the chapter does indeed kind of work within that stricture).
So far so good, but we’re also introduced to ancillary characters who appear quite often: Dickie Burpee, Pooch Labrador, Smash Sarnia, and a psychopath named Tulep. With all of the nicknames and rotating narrators, I admit to losing track of who was who, which I fear lessened the impact of some of the events.
Of course, that’s all structural. And while I felt like I probably missed out on moments of impact, the overall storyline was not hard to follow. And, indeed, complaints aside, the story was pretty intriguing. It is set in the (fictional) small suburb of Minnisapa, Minnesota. It feels very true to me (having lived in a small town, myself) as do the choices (bad and good) that the kids make. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 