Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Soundtrack) by Alberto Iglesias - Review

Old Men Drinking in the Dark
Review by Helen San

Classically trained Spanish composer ALBERTO IGLESIAS has an ethereal, perspicacious style that Hollywood has really taken a liking to. Like actor Antonio Banderas, IGLESIAS has been propelled him into the international spotlight by his close working relationship with acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. Recent years has seen him scoring more and more Hollywood and European artfare, the kind that gets Academy Award nominations. Twice nominated for the Academy Awards before (THE CONSTANT GARDENER and THE KITE RUNNER), IGLESIAS has just been nominated a third time for TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY (TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY). He has already won the Hollywood Film Composer Award this year for both TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY and Almodóvar’s THE SKIN I LIVE IN.

IGLESIAS’ style is reminiscent of other classical composers like JOHN CORIGLIANO and ELLIOT GOLDENTHAL. He writes abstract, discordant, thorny compositions that pique and provoke, often contrasted against an amorphous, atonal background. When it hits the spot, his music is sheer brilliance. “Los Vestidos Desgarrados” (Track 1) in THE SKIN I LIVE IN, for example, is one of the most mesmerizing and ingenious string cues I’ve ever heard. The problem was, these flashes of genius were few and far between. In both previous Oscar-nominated scores , THE CONSTANT GARDENER and THE KITE RUNNER, IGLESIAS maintained his luminosity and intelligence at a relatively steady pace throughout the albums. This year, in both THE SKIN I LIVE IN and TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY, Iglesias’ music has been very uneven.

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Oscar Nominees for Best Original Score

Ok. I'll admit it. I desperately look forward to the yearly nominee announcements from the Globies and the Oscars. Some of you might be asking, "Why? They are so dreadfully wrong year after year."

That's precisely it, my friends...especially when it comes to the BEST ORIGINAL SCORE category. It's like watching NASCAR for the wrecks (I mean why else would anyone watch?). It's like rubber-necking at a traffic accident. We know its going to be bad, but we cannot refrain from looking.

Listen...do you hear the approach of screeching tires........

Nominees for Best Original Score:

Atonement - Dario Marianelli
The Kite Runner - Alberto Iglesias
Michael Clayton - James Newton Howard
Ratatouille - Michael Giacchino
3:10 to Yuma - Marco Beltrami

Let me say this about "this year's wreck." First, "Hah! I told you all who argued with me about THE KITE RUNNER getting a nomination...deserving or not. Don't be at all shocked if it wins." Second, "Michael Clayton? Seriously?" SCRREEEEEEEEECH! Third, mad props to Michael Giacchino and Marco Beltrami on getting nominated. Not Giacchino's best, but perhaps one of Beltrami's. Nice to see some new names in the mix.

OK...my own twisted satisfaction will see THE KITE RUNNER win at the expense of the most deserving from this list of nominees, ATONEMENT. Hopefully there will be a show to actually watch this tragedy. Who wants to just hear the screeching of tires?

The Kite Runner (Soundtrack) by Alberto Iglesias

Catching the Essence of Kites
Review by Christopher Coleman

THE KITE RUNNER was not what I expected. The film, of course was adapted from author Kahled Hosseini's first novel which was first published in 2003. I only had a rough idea of the film's setting and its well-marketed images had me thinking (and hoping) for a somewhat lighthearted tale about two friends who flew kites in Afghanistan. That element does exist, but it is rather short lived while a barrage of other tones and emotions take over the film - ranging from outrage, to disgust, to pity, to heartbreak. THE KITE RUNNER, in the end, is a brutally sad tale, with a hint of hope and measure of redemption by the films end. Helping to traverse this wide range of emotions and exotic setting is ALBERTO IGLESIAS' eclectic score.

Composer ALBERTO IGLESIAS has done most of his work for Spanish cinema but has been a part of a few well-known projects. In 2006, he wrote the score the well-nominated and awarded film VOLVER and was nominated for an Academy Award for his score for THE CONSTANT GARDENER in 2005. This, his major project for 2007, seems to also have him headed for a busy award season. In fact, THE KITE RUNNER has already garnered Iglesias a SATELLITE AWARD for BEST ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK. Nominations and awards aside, his latest score is as different from VOLVER as itself was different from THE CONSTANT GARDENER.

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